Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
Lunar Ice Debate's Two NASA Probes
Is there frozen water on the lunar surface? Scientists have debated this question for years. NASA is planning to launch two probes this week to try and find out.
The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and the LCROSS impactor are intended to discover if any ice is present in places like deep craters at the moon's poles. These craters have received no direct sunlight for at least 2 billion years.
LCROSS will crash two probes into the moon, hoping to produce evidence of hydrogen locked away in the moon's North Pole. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter will map the moon from orbit and work with other ground and space-based assets to scan the LCROSS impacts.
Science fiction fans have been rooting for the possibility of ice right along with scientists. In Robert Heinlein's 1966 novel The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, ice mining is a perfectly respectable trade.
"That's okay, still ice in the Rock and a miner expects to sound for it. But Authority pays same price for ice now as thirty years ago. And that's not okay..."
Still, finding water ice on the moon is far preferable to shipping it from Earth. Anthony Colaprete, principal investigator on NASA's LCROSS, short for the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, estimates the cost of shipping a gallon of water merely to Low Earth Orbit at about $100,000.
One shy little fellow with the bloodshot eyes of an old-time drillman stood up. "I'm an ice miner," he said. "Learned my trade doing time for Warden like most of you. I've been on my own thirty years and done okay... I should say I did do okay... because today you have to listen farther out or deeper down to find ice."
Read more details about the lunar ice missions at Space.com. Also, fans of 2001: A Space Odyssey will enjoy watching this animation of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and LCROSS combined mission.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 6/17/2009)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 1 )
Related News Stories - (" Space Tech ")
Beautiful Visualization of Dawn Spacecraft
'Then he became aware of a gentle pressure pushing him away from the ship.' - Isaac Asimov, 1939.
Tumblin' Tumbleweed Rovers To Eplore Mars
'His sensors out and working, and the whirring of the tape that sucked up sight and sound and shape and smell and form...' - Clifford Simak,
Tentacled Robot Captures Space Debris
Preventing annoying space debris build-up.
Reflect Orbital Sunlight On Demand
'I don't have to tell you about the seven two-mile-diameter orbital mirrors that circulate around the satellite, making it habitable.'
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
Warfare Goes Underground In Ukraine
'Once in the very first weeks of the war, before everyone had been evacuated from the surface...'
3D Printed Organs From Space
'For a while your colonists will have to come up to the [orbital] Hospital...'
Robot Bees 3D Printed By Festo
'At first I was struck by the large size of these bees..'
DIY Robot Scorpion Crushes It
'...it raised its front end off the ground and waved its antennae at them, then raised one armoured claw as if to snip them out of the sky.'
How To Settle An Argument Between Two Robots
'Henry... assumed the curious absent look of a robot talking on the TBR circuits.'
The Wind Phone Calls Those Who Have Passed On
'Only I heard that!'
Don't Want To Wear A TIght Shiny Bodysuit?
'He looked a good bit like an elderly, fat beetle.'
Light Society: Simulates Earth-Scale Society With A Billion AI Agents
'The king, an old hand in the running of tyrannies, instantly grasped the directions...'
Satyress Centaur Robot Horror Reminds Everyone Of Something
'Fess was very dutiful'
When Colds Threaten You Can't Do This - Or Can You?
'...a hemispherical force field enclosing his head.'
Beautiful Visualization of Dawn Spacecraft
'Then he became aware of a gentle pressure pushing him away from the ship.'
Biological War: A Scenario
'And now they wre busily transforming all their companions, and so on, and so on...'
Pole-Dancing Stripperbot Robot
'Why, a clockwork dancer, or, better still, one that would go by electricity and never run down...'
Collective Superintelligence Is At Hand!
'Maybe the individual intelligence of each Cubic pools into a group intelligence...'
Instant Journalists: Ordinary People With Cell Phones
'We'll show them whose planet this is!'
Health Kiosk Has No Human Doctor
'The electronic body analyzer had been developed...'
