Water on the Moon...

So apparently there's "a significant amount of water on the moon"...



Its water Helen wa-ter...

I heard on the news that the water could also be turned into breathable air...

So maybe people could just go to the moon and... bounce... around like nothing some day...

Yeah, heard about it on Google. I absolutely don't give a crap. I used to be all about space exploration and these kind of findings, but now I can't help, but feel that we are wasting billions of dollars a year on space exploration. The only space related program I support, at this point, is space debris mapping (i.e. asteroids, meteors, debris...) It's good to know where such objects lie in relation to Earth, yet of course we only spend a few million a year on something as important as that.

Bah... I could further go off the beaten trail here, but I'l leave it at that.

Even if we do turn the water into breathable air, it would eventually run out. The only solution to that is to maybe build massive controlled enviroments that house thousands of plants. Maybe then we can sart colonizing the moon since we screwed up the earth already.

Meh, despite what some radical environmentalists want us to believe, the Earth is not at the point of no return. Granted we're not going to change our ways fast enough, but it hasn't gone past that crucial point yet.

the idea of colonizing the moon by relying on the water on the surface of the moon seems a difficult task. The colonists would need to be well supplied as if any emergency arose then it would be days if not weeks before help arrived. Even if we begin to terraform the moon into a hospitable place, the water isn't enough to create an atmosphere thick enough for people to breath or shield the surface from various radiation emitted from suns and black holes (yes, they emit radiation of some form but, I can't remember the specific name at this time).

Do I think we will colonize it eventually? Yes.

Will it be successful? eh maybe?

They found 24 gallons.
(BBC report)
Move on.

Anyone wanna tag a bet that they bring it back with them and sell imported moon water for $1000 a bottle? :P

Earth water levels are rising... People want the moon to have water... possible solution to the world's global warming problem maybe?

It was only 25 gallons though... that is so tiny it almost should even be taken into consideration. Probably all the astronaunt urine finally landing somewhere.

True, but we are talking levels way beyond what should be part of naturally occurring climate change patterns. Complete blame can not be placed on us, but saying that it isn't even mostly are fault is just a cop-out.

I don't see 25 gallons of water as a factor in anything.
It's not as if this discovery will affect the masses still looking out for the "Mars face" or something.

There is water, the most important thing for the existance of life! Let's turn it into gasoline! Yay!!!

We can all agree on a 50/50 split for the time being on if it is or isn't our fault. I would go into a rant about how if you believe in global warming then you should have started the change my sending a message with your dollars. Companies start losing money, they'll listen. That's neither here not there. This is purely about water on the moon (which there could be a lot more in other craters) and the possible potential that could lead too. There is already private sector interest in colonizing the moon.

Too cheap for a bottle of that ^_^ I'd rather bet they'd sell it for $10k a 10ml vial :P

Well, regarding water on the moon, well there's a nice possibility. Theoretically possible for colonization, but given the present space technology, we still can't.

I think before we look for life on other planets or moons we should fix the lives here on earth first.

With the economy the way it is now, we would only be taking that bad economic system to the moon, and you cant tax air. At least I hope not.

Hey Zak, unspected choice of avatar eh? So far, what I'm longing for a lunar base is where they can put Gundams or at least 1 Zaku.

huh?
well there is also "ice on mars"...

nothing to get excited about in my opinion, because NASA is just going to waste billions of dollars to research it. That is money that could be used to Help the planet earth with its current problems.

also NASA will kill 3 space crews in the launch into space due to the Rocket exploding like always when taking off! "seriously after so many failed attempts and explosions, why dose NASA even try anymore??!!"

Agreed. We can spend less money, doing space research and rocket engineering. Then when we feel confident that we can do it without screwing the pooch we can try again in say 20-25 years. There are many more pressing matters to attend to on Earth. "Keep your eyes out of the sky, and on the ground in front of you."

In all serious though. The presence of polar ice caps and frozen water reserves on other planets could be quite useful to us in the future. Even if we just have to ship the excess water from rising sea levels there to refreeze it.