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Explorers on the Moon: Ice on the Moon?

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jock123
Moderator
#21 · Posted: 8 Oct 2009 12:44
Harrock n roll:
If all goes well, tomorrow NASA will be crashing the LCROSS orbiter into the Moon's south pole to search for water on the moon.

What if it bursts? According to David Niven, The Moon’s a Balloon… ;-)
Harrock n roll
Moderator
#22 · Posted: 9 Oct 2009 20:33
Well, the LCROSS crashed into the Moon today, but everyone's baffled as to why there was no debris and not even much sign of an impact.

I'd say it was a bit of a damp squib, but it was probably more a dry squib...

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/10/091009-nasa-moon-bombi ng-lcross-impact-crash.html
mct16
Member
#23 · Posted: 14 Nov 2009 01:29
jock123
Moderator
#24 · Posted: 29 Nov 2012 21:41
And if ice on the Moon sounded improbable...

...we have now found ice on Mercury!
Furienna
Member
#25 · Posted: 15 Dec 2012 08:22
Harrock n roll:
After Hörbiger's death the Nazis adopted Welteislehre as their cosmological viewpoint, a Nazi alternative to the 'Jewish' theory of relativity.

I've never heard about that before. Isn't it funny though, that just because Albert Einstein was Jewish, the Nazis felt like they needed an alternative to the theory of relativity? And that it turned out to be complete nonsense, but no one was allowed to question it?
jock123
Moderator
#26 · Posted: 23 Aug 2018 19:14
And the story of water ice on our moon's surface continues with these latest findings at the lunar poles.

The discoveries are the results of analyzing data from India's Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, which carried out a major lunar survey between 2008 and 2009, and are yet another step towards giving mankind a possible source of water as we venture out into space again.
Shivam302001
Member
#27 · Posted: 24 Aug 2018 10:50
What I find interesting is that the Hipparchus crater where Calculus' crew had landed is near the centre of the visible Moon. And according to studies, ice is found near the poles of the Moon and inside caves and behind the shadows of the craters (the place where Tintin had found ice in the first place).

But more importantly, the stalactites and stalagmites inside the caves are worth more looking into. Stalactites and stalagmites are formed due to deposition from dripping water, indicating the presence of liquid water.
As far as I know, the shallow atmosphere of the Moon does not support liquid water (while the vapour gets discarded into space), so ice is the only state in which water can exist on the Moon.
So how come the presence of the stalactites and the stalagmites inside the cave?
jock123
Moderator
#28 · Posted: 24 Aug 2018 13:25
Shivam302001:
how come the presence of the stalactites and the stalagmites inside the cave?

Water isn't the only thing that forms stalagmites and stalactites - lava can do it too.

Caves on the moon appear to be created by lava tubes, rather than erosion by water; I'm not a geologist or selenologist by any means, but that may be what was intended to be shown.

However, we have to allow that at the time of the book being written, Hergé took lot of time to research and discuss with noted authorities what current science believed to be true for the moon's development, and it may have been thought that the lunar atmosphere was once dense enough to allow for free-flowing water, erosion and the creation of stalactites and stalagmites from the effects of both.
Shivam302001
Member
#29 · Posted: 24 Aug 2018 20:50
Yes, lava does form stalactites and stalagmites. But if that is the case, then Tintin's inference that liquid water existed on the Moon in the book should be wrong.

I did some research and found this out. It says that the atmosphere of the Moon was quite different from the present and could well have hosted liquid water, as you so rightly said.

So as far as it stands, Tintin and Herge are telling the truth about the presence of liquid water once upon a time on the lunar surface and ice until future findings prove otherwise.
Harrock n roll
Moderator
#30 · Posted: 26 Oct 2020 19:37
Once again it's been confirmed water exists on the moon.. By measuring the wavelengths of sunlight reflecting off the moon's surface Nasa have detected a chemical signature that is "unambiguously H2O".

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