OT: Let's all go to the Moon...

[Katchoo]

New York Post: Back to the Moon (http://www.nypost.com/news/nationalnews/12584.htm)

To celebrate, here's a little diddy that we can all sing (to the tune of "Let's all go to the Lobby"):

Let's all go to the Moon.
Let's all go to the Moooooon.
Let's all go to the Moo-ooooon,
to get ourselves a treat!
Delicious things to eat.
The Moon Rocks can't be beat.
The Impact Craters are just dandy.
The Monoliths, the Cheeze and the candy.
So, let's all go to the Moo-oooon
to get ourselves a treat!
Let's all go to the Moo-oooon,
to get ourselves a treat!"

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Can you belive I put almost no effort into that?

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif

[narf poit chez BOOM]

first the moon, then mars, THEN THE GALAXY!

[Cyrien]

I think you missed a few their. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif I want to see Europa!

[EvilGenius4ABetterTomorro]

Yes, hurry up and get back to the moon before the Chinese get there and find out there are not any American flags planted, footsteps, or left over Apollo mission equipment left behind.
Operation Plant Evidence is a go!

Seriously though, how much room do you need to test a new military rocket? Is area 51 still to darn close to test secret goodies? I can just see the headline now: "Experimental Anti-Matter Rocket destroys moon, Haliburon wins contract to build new one"

[Phoenix-D]

A base on the moon would be a very good stepping stone to the outer system- the gravity is lower so you can lift off for less fuel. Launch from earth with enough fuel to get to the moon, land, refuel, take off again on your way.

[Narrew]

well, I would weigh a lot less, woohoo.

[Arkcon]

Yeah, I heard this story on slashdot -- and I thought it was pretty cool to hear.

I have a question, before the dialog over there on /. degenerated into politics, someone mentioned that the moon's regolith made it past the joints in the Apollo spacesuits and began to pinch the astronauts.

That sounds ridiculous to me, those suits should have been air-tight. Right? Or am I wrong? Anyone even hear of this? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif

[Cyrien]

Some of the dust on the moon is smaller than air molecules.

[Phoenix-D]

Originally posted by Cyrien:
Some of the dust on the moon is smaller than air molecules. <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Um, you sure? Most air is N2- it doesn't get a whole lot smaller than that. Especially for something recognizable as dust.

[Cyrien]

You are right. I was posting based on something I thought I remembered reading a while back. Couldn't find anything about that now. Did find these that explain it. Apparantly the dust is very fine and abrasive and gets in the joints of the suits and other equipment and causes them to cease to work and jam up.

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/resource2000/pdf/7004.pdf

http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0007/21moondust/

[ December 05, 2003, 00:58: Message edited by: Cyrien ]

[narf poit chez BOOM]

and an appropraite webcomic page for it from the very cute Count Your Sheep: http://sheep123.keenspace.com/d/20031003.html

[Suicide Junkie]

Well, the dust could easily have gotten into external portions of the suits. Any parts outside of the air-vaccuum barrier could get clogged up.

Also, the dust they would have tracked inside could then have gotten in when they remove their helmets.

[Baron Munchausen]

Dust seems to be a major problem on both the Moon and Mars. It makes you wonder just how practical any 'permanent' presence will be on either. With the Moon I guess you can rely on the industrial might of your earth-based infrastructure to send lots of replacement equipment. That will greatly increase the cost of the permanent presence, though.

On Mars the dust might even be chemically corrosive as well as very fine and gritty. I'd be really cautious of trying to land people there until many robotic probes had landed and returned samples for study from various areas. The smart thing to do would be to send manned missions to orbit Mars, only landing with robots -- which could be controlled from orbit with much better precision than the 45 minute delay from Earth-based control.

[ December 05, 2003, 20:18: Message edited by: Baron Munchausen ]

[Katchoo]

I say we pack up the whole Prison population of the US and send them to the Moon with the the following items:

1 can of Pledge
5 rolls of Paper Towels
1 box of Swiffer Cloths

Asta la vista, dust!

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

[Fyron]

Make the equipment have no exposed internal parts, just tough casing that can resist dust. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

[Cyrien]

Actually... The articles state that at least in the case of the moon the biggest problem with the dust is that it hovers above the surface and as you walk through it it clings to you. This is apparantly due to electric charge in the dust. Based on that you can do several things to either bring it down to the ground again so it doesn't have the problem of cling or you can charge the equipment so it repels the dust. Something like one of those. So at least on the moon the dust problem at least seems to be settled.