NASA Briefs Preliminary Plume Findings from Moon Mission |
NASA Briefs Preliminary Plume Findings from Moon Mission |
Nov 10 2009, 09:26 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 239 Joined: 18-December 07 From: New York Member No.: 3982 |
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Nov 14 2009, 08:33 PM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3516 Joined: 4-November 05 From: North Wales Member No.: 542 |
Well we've now got three estimates in the same ballpark. Converting to ppm: nprev 12ppm, myself 25ppm and P Hayne 1-10ppm.
I started wondering - if that were gold would we mine it? So with this thought here's a comparison from Wikipedia: "Gold extraction is most economical in large, easily mined deposits. Ore grades as little as 0.5 g/1000 kg (0.5 parts per million, ppm) can be economical. Typical ore grades in open-pit mines are 1–5 g/1000 kg (1–5 ppm); ore grades in underground or hard rock mines are usually at least 3 g/1000 kg (3 ppm). Because ore grades of 30 g/1000 kg (30 ppm) are usually needed before gold is visible to the naked eye, in most gold mines the gold is invisible." |
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Nov 14 2009, 10:27 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 544 Joined: 17-November 05 From: Oklahoma Member No.: 557 |
I really appreciated Colaprete being willing to openly mention the possible other volatiles they may be seeing, pending final proof. He would have been well within his rights to say he was holding comment until the analysis was definitive. Now we know that hydrogen compounds in addition to water are probably available, along with sources of carbon.
I started wondering - if that were gold would we mine it? Clever! One should also mention that it will be a lot easier to bake water out of lunar soil then to extract metal from ore. It can be certain that at this concentration it will be better to mine water than import it. Based on some studies done about mars sample returns that examined the use of refueling on the surface, and given the energy requirements for lunar sample return are similar but smaller, it's possible to speculate about a sample return probe with rover, where the rover processed ascent fuel in addition to gathering samples. Of course, it would have to be a big sample return mission, and you'd have to be pretty patient with the rover, but there might be enough science here to justify it. |
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Nov 15 2009, 12:00 AM
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 94 Joined: 22-May 08 From: Loughborough Member No.: 4121 |
Just out of interest - what would the total organic chemical content of the Centaur amount to? Plastics, wiring etc. Vapourise them via a collosal thud and all manner of fragments will fly.
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