Comments on: Over 100 Explosions Observed on the Moon

By: William R. Cousert

William R. Cousert — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 05:10:41 +0000

Why not send one of those tunnell digging machines they use to build subway tunnells?

It seems to me that it should be possible to dig out dozens if not hundreds of miles of tunnells before the first astronaughts step foot on the Moon.

By: bob

bob — Mon, 26 May 2008 03:53:39 +0000

Dave,

You are not alone. I was looking at the crater Eratosthenes with my XT-12 using 18mm lenses in my binoviewer along with the shorty barlow and saw gases belching from there about 9 months ago. I have even seen new shadows in Theophilis that weren't there before, stretching across the whole crater during crescent phase.

By: Dave

Dave — Sat, 24 May 2008 19:23:25 +0000

Great! Now I won't think I am seeing things when I see a small momentary point of light on the dark areas of the moon! AND now I have something else to look forword to when I observe/photo the moon…Thanks for the article!!!
dave

By: Nicholos Wethington

Nicholos Wethington — Fri, 23 May 2008 14:22:05 +0000

MothyJohn,

I changed the phrasing to make it clearer. I'd meant "up to", but during the writing something else snuck out of my brain and onto the page in addition. Thanks for keeping me honest!

~Nick

By: Ian O'Neill

Ian O'Neill — Fri, 23 May 2008 12:26:12 +0000

Looking at the image, perhaps we should camp down in the Sea of Tranquility or Serenity, looks like we'd be safer there I think we can forget about the West limb, peppered with meteorites out there!

Nice article Nick, makes me want to do some lunar astronomy now

Cheers, Ian

By: John -- www.moonposter.ie

John -- www.moonposter.ie — Fri, 23 May 2008 09:14:44 +0000

@ Lotusface: I agree with you. A moon base is inevitable in the near future, however, in order to construct a permanent, meteoroid-strike-free base underneath the lunar surface, a temporary lunar base is necessary. These permanent bases will, in fact, be integrated into the lunar terrain eventually — eg. using rilles, craters etc., — and can be constructed using the lunar soil with hardners and the, hopefully, water-ice resources available in the pole regions. These water-ice resources have yet to be fully confirmed (aka: Clementine and Lunar Prospector results), and they will very much determine the quickness in time of future space exploration to other planets like Mars. It will take a lot of time and resources initially to construct the strike-free habitats, but "small steps" at a time have to be envisioned if we are to succeed.

John — http://www.moonposter.ie

By: LOTUSFACE

LOTUSFACE — Thu, 22 May 2008 22:05:19 +0000

IN ORDER TO PUT A BASE IN THE MOON WE HAVE TO ESTABLISH AN OUTPOST ON THE MOON SO CONSTRUCTION AND EXCAVATION CAN TAKE PLACE.
WE'D BETTER COME UP WITH SOME WAY TO DO LOTS OF SOIL MOVING OR HUMANS WILL BE IN PERIL.
MAYBE THERE IS A SUBSTANCE WE COULD BRING TO THE MOON, MIX WITH MOON SOIL WHICH WOULD CAUSE THE MOONSOIL TO HARDEN. WE COULD SHOTCRETE THE MIXTURE OVER OUR BLADDER HABITATIONS TO FORM CAVES

By: MothyJohn

MothyJohn — Thu, 22 May 2008 21:20:15 +0000

"speeds in excess of up to 160,000 miles per hour (257,495 kilometers per hour)."

This sentence doesn't make sense to me.

Which is it, "in excess of" or "up to".

The first means more than 160,000 miles per hour and the second means less than 160,000 miles per hour.

By: El Sofista - MÃ¡s de cien explosiones observadas en la Luna

El Sofista - MÃ¡s de cien explosiones observadas en la Luna — Thu, 22 May 2008 19:11:52 +0000

En los Ãºltimos dos aÃ±os y medio a la Luna le dan dado una buena golpiza. Los astrÃ³nomos de la NASA han observado mÃ¡s de cien explosiones en Luna durante este perÃodo, causadas por meteoritos de tamaÃ±o variable que caen a velocidades cercanas a los 250 mil kilÃ³metros por hora [...] Fuente: Nicholos Wethington para Universe Today, y NASA.

By: Tyler Durden

Tyler Durden — Thu, 22 May 2008 18:08:36 +0000

"Tell me exactly why it is a bad idea to put a base on the moon again?"

That's what Heinlein said.

It makes no sense to put a base ON the moon, where meteroid impacts can shred your dome and you need an excessive amount of power to air-condition the place against the 28 days that the sun will be in the sky.

Only logical thing to do is to stick your base IN the moon where it's immune to those problems.

By: Kurtisle

Kurtisle — Thu, 22 May 2008 17:41:28 +0000

tacitus,

well said.

By: Justine Ayers

Justine Ayers — Thu, 22 May 2008 17:30:47 +0000

Tell me exactly why it is a bad idea to put a base on the moon again?

By: tacitus

tacitus — Thu, 22 May 2008 16:20:44 +0000

Goodness me. This is sure to get the 2012 doomsayers going…