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A newly discovered moon tunnel

washingtonpost.com

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Re: A newly discovered moon tunnel

#41

Post by raldi »

Density wrote: post #6

TLDR: Space nerds theorized moon caves since the 80s. Moon caves created by young moon lava flows billions of years ago found in early 2000s. Japanese space agency finished mapping a tunnel last week and found it's 50km long and 500m wide with a flat bottom perfect for building space buildings in. This is news that's breaking to a revitalized moon rocket industry with all agencies and players building their own big m…

Oddly, the satellite that did the mapping ended its mission in 2009: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SELENE

Did it really take until now to analyze its data?

Re: A newly discovered moon tunnel

#42

Post by lostlogin »

space_fountain wrote: post #34
space_fountain wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you ever want to do a lot in space a ton

Sorry meant to expand more. The fact that the moon has such lower gravity than the earth means it's a lot cheaper in theory to get stuff from the surface of the moon to orbit than from earth

But there isn’t exactly a lot of readily available resources on the moon, so until that changes your just paying to lift stuff twice. Water may be an exception to this?

Re: A newly discovered moon tunnel

#43

Post by kobeya »

raldi wrote: post #41
Density wrote: post #6

TLDR: Space nerds theorized moon caves since the 80s. Moon caves created by young moon lava flows billions of years ago found in early 2000s. Japanese space agency finished mapping a tunnel last week and found it's 50km long and 500m wide with a flat bottom perfect for building space buildings in. This is news that's breaking to a revitalized moon rocket industry with all agencies and players building their own big m…

Oddly, the satellite that did the mapping ended its mission in 2009: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SELENE Did it really take until now to analyze its data?

As someone whose job was once to work with that data, yes. It’s a tremendous amount of data and the resources allocated is often a half dozen grad students with a copy of MATLAB. The big iron is only really applied to create the official maps for the planetary science data archives, then real analysis is often paid for piecemeal with relatively small grants.

Re: A newly discovered moon tunnel

#44

Post by Density »

pavement wrote: post #35
danielbln wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, uh, who owns the moon, and that tunnel in particular? Is it first come first serve?

Whoever gets there first, and can realistically form a threat credible enough to defend it. You’ll probably need the backing of a nuclear power, although off-world representation of earthly countries might not turn out to be particularly credible threats (enough to intimidate new emerging space-based powers), or remain truly politically cohesive with their root terrestrial counterparts, depending...

I have the sinking feeling we'll be teaching space marksmanship to our next batch of astronauts.

Re: A newly discovered moon tunnel

#45

Post by gjjrfcbugxbhf »

samstave wrote: post #37
kurthr wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The same place that water came from on Earth... comet impacts and residual moisture from the impact that split the Earth-Moon system. Really the same place all planetary water and gas has come from. There's not much left because it mostly boils off due to low pressure, but in dark crevasses it's likely to stay cold enough to remain condensed. It's been measured spectroscopically.

Where did the comets get the water they impacted on earth?

Water is just hydrogen plus oxygen. Both are fairly common elements in the universe.

Re: A newly discovered moon tunnel

#46

Post by kurthr »

samstave wrote: post #37
kurthr wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The same place that water came from on Earth... comet impacts and residual moisture from the impact that split the Earth-Moon system. Really the same place all planetary water and gas has come from. There's not much left because it mostly boils off due to low pressure, but in dark crevasses it's likely to stay cold enough to remain condensed. It's been measured spectroscopically.

Where did the comets get the water they impacted on earth?

The big bang?

Re: A newly discovered moon tunnel

#47

Post by _puk »

danielbln wrote: post #30
Density wrote: post #6

TLDR: Space nerds theorized moon caves since the 80s. Moon caves created by young moon lava flows billions of years ago found in early 2000s. Japanese space agency finished mapping a tunnel last week and found it's 50km long and 500m wide with a flat bottom perfect for building space buildings in. This is news that's breaking to a revitalized moon rocket industry with all agencies and players building their own big m…

So, uh, who owns the moon, and that tunnel in particular? Is it first come first serve?

Dennis hope [0]

I do recall buying an acre as a fun present back in the day..

0: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2654045/Id-buy-moon-...

1st google hit, but seems fittingly trash..

Re: A newly discovered moon tunnel

#48

Post by kobeya »

danielbln wrote: post #30
Density wrote: post #6

TLDR: Space nerds theorized moon caves since the 80s. Moon caves created by young moon lava flows billions of years ago found in early 2000s. Japanese space agency finished mapping a tunnel last week and found it's 50km long and 500m wide with a flat bottom perfect for building space buildings in. This is news that's breaking to a revitalized moon rocket industry with all agencies and players building their own big m…

So, uh, who owns the moon, and that tunnel in particular? Is it first come first serve?

No one does according to the Outer Space Treaty. No one can according to the Moon Treaty. (Thankfully the major powers didn’t ratify that one.) In practice, common law has ruled that physical possession constitutes ownership with the precedent of the Apollo artifacts and Lunakhod rover.

Re: A newly discovered moon tunnel

#49

Post by kobeya »

_puk wrote: post #47
danielbln wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, uh, who owns the moon, and that tunnel in particular? Is it first come first serve?

Dennis hope [0] I do recall buying an acre as a fun present back in the day.. 0: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2654045/Id-buy-moon-... 1st google hit, but seems fittingly trash..

You were swindled.

Re: A newly discovered moon tunnel

#50

Post by sdenton4 »

samstave wrote: post #37
kurthr wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The same place that water came from on Earth... comet impacts and residual moisture from the impact that split the Earth-Moon system. Really the same place all planetary water and gas has come from. There's not much left because it mostly boils off due to low pressure, but in dark crevasses it's likely to stay cold enough to remain condensed. It's been measured spectroscopically.

Where did the comets get the water they impacted on earth?

Clever question, but it's comets all the way down, I'm afraid.
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