Water on the Moon, Data from multiple missions seems to indicate... |
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Water on the Moon, Data from multiple missions seems to indicate... |
 Sep 27 2009, 07:19 PM
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#61
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Member  Group: Members Posts: 360 Joined: 17-November 05 From: Oklahoma Member No.: 557  |
QUOTE (Fran Ontanaya @ Sep 26 2009, 03:59 PM)  As a curiousity, would water ice survive a lunar day inside the descent stage of the Apollo Lunar Module? A complicated question. You have fuel tanks, engine parts, batteries and black boxes, various bays, all kinds of nooks and crannies. You'd have to specify a location in the descent stage (preferably saying which descent stage, they are at different latitudes and orientations), and then someone with the proper engineering knowlege (not me) could do a thermal analysis. Since it's mostly metal, you would expect the temperature to even out a lot, and that the noon temperature would probably put the whole thing above freezing. But still, there are going to be hotter and colder areas. And what exactly the ice is attached to will make a difference in conductivity. Also you need to know how much ice. Big chunk, ...little chunk, ...snowflake? What did you have in mind? My guess, and it really is only a guess, is that standing above the lunar surface in roasting sunlight for several earth days will heat up the whole thing enough to do a lot of damage to interior ice. |
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Sep 27 2009, 07:37 PM
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#62
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 4514 Joined: 5-April 05 From: Canada Member No.: 227 |
That sounds about right to me. After the first couple of lunar days there couldn't have been much left.
Phil Stooke -------------------- ... because the Solar System ain't gonna map itself.
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Sep 28 2009, 04:51 PM
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#63
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 The Poet Dude Group: Moderator Posts: 5546 Joined: 15-March 04 From: Kendal, Cumbria, UK Member No.: 60 |
Lots of interesting blog posts re. the "water on the Moon" story at this week's "Carnival of Space", which I'm proud to be hosting on CUMBRIAN SKY...
http://cumbriansky.wordpress.com/2009/09/2...al-of-space-122 One of the best is Emily's 2 parter, which you really should read if you haven't already. -------------------- |
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Oct 23 2009, 07:19 PM
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#64
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 Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1146 Joined: 3-August 06 From: 43° 35' 53" N 1° 26' 35" E Member No.: 1004 |
The series of "water on the Moon" paper has finally be published in Science today
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/vol326/issue5952/index.dtl -------------------- I'm one of the most durable and fervent advocates of space exploration, but my take is that we could do it robotically at far less cost and far greater quantity and quality of results.
James Van Allen |
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