Nasa prepares to bomb the moon

Originally posted by ArbitrageurThis title I can handle even if it's a stretch.

How is it a stretch? The OP posted verbatim what the article title was, as per T&C. Go call up Scientific American and ask that august body "What ever were you thinking..."

But I agree with you on that latest absolute thread... ought to be a law against it. Well he will pay the price... the skeptic hoards will pounce...

reply to post by zorgon
Glad you put the smileys there! Yes I can't fault the OP too much for copying a media title and doing so is certainly not a T&C violation, but the word "bomb" seems to have a specific meaning that this event doesn't quite fit exactly. So main fault is the media, and only a slight "oops" for the OP not massaging that to something a little more accurate. But no biggie here, unlike the other post LOL.

The Big Kaboom

October Coming to a Moon near you..

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/0a74a0b49446.jpg[/atsimg]

reply to post by 0010110011101

Either way, the launch is today so hold on to your hats, should be interesting to see what comes back!

Do you mean interesting as in "May you live in interesting times" ? I hope nobody out there takes this as an act of war

Gotta love the human approach. We stare at the moon a bunch. Send some dudes up there to plant a flag like we own it. Then we forget about it a while. Then we decide to bomb it.

Originally posted by Lazyninja
Gotta love the human approach. We stare at the moon a bunch. Send some dudes up there to plant a flag like we own it. Then we forget about it a while. Then we decide to bomb it.

Yes and these guys get paid a hefty salary for doing that, while we get nabbed by the cops for 'illegal' fireworks...

Not that I would know anything about that...

[edit on 11-7-2009 by zorgon]

Could this pose a threat to the tides of Earth?

Originally posted by arktkchr
Could this pose a threat to the tides of Earth?

A good question.

Could a small gravitational disturbance in the moons rotation be enough to cause tidal waves on earth, even small ones?

[edit on 20-8-2009 by In nothing we trust]

Originally posted by arktkchr
Could this pose a threat to the tides of Earth?

Not even remotely. As I said earlier in this thread. Five S-IVB stages have slammed into the Moon. They're bigger than the Centaur rocket stage that will impact in October. They did not affect the Moon in any significant way.

Originally posted by jra

Originally posted by arktkchr
Could this pose a threat to the tides of Earth?

Not even remotely. As I said earlier in this thread. Five S-IVB stages have slammed into the Moon. They're bigger than the Centaur rocket stage that will impact in October. They did not affect the Moon in any significant way.

I agree. I calculated that a fly hitting the windshield of a 80,000 lb tractor-trailer truck will have more effect on the truck relatively speaking than this impact will have on the moon. We'll get some sensor data back from the probe and from the moonquake detectors, and that's about all I expect to reach Earth in any meaningful way as a result of the impact.

[edit on 20-8-2009 by Arbitrageur]

WOW!!! I had no idea that things like this were taking place!!! +1 if another country did this we'd be pissed!!

Originally posted by ChaosComplex
if another country did this we'd be pissed!!

US, Russia, ESA, Japan, China and India have all intentionally impacted things into the Moon. No one has gotten upset.

Here's a list of all the things that have landed and crashed on the Moon.

[edit on 20-8-2009 by jra]

Originally posted by ChaosComplex
WOW!!! I had no idea that things like this were taking place!!! +1 if another country did this we'd be pissed!!

This is nothing to get upset about. What I'm upset about is all the space debris floating around, making it more dangerous to even go into space, especially to do an EVA (spacewalk). If you want to get upset about something, get upset about this:

2007 Chinese anti-satellite missile test

Anti-satellite missile tests, especially ones involving kinetic kill vehicles as in this case, contribute to the formation of orbital space debris which can remain in orbit for many years and could interfere with future space activity. The test is the largest recorded creation of space debris in history with at least 2,317 pieces of trackable size (golf ball size and larger), thereby increasing the total number of currently tracked objects in earth orbit by more than 22%.

A bullet travels at what? maybe 1000-1500 mph? This debris travels at what, 17,000 mph? 20,000 mph? and kinetic energy increases with the square of the velocity so that's an extra 2317 deadly GOLF BALL or larger missiles zipping around the planet! Debris as small as a bullet is probably 15,000 pieces from just that one test, and maybe 50,000 BB sized pieces, and I think a BB at 17,000 mph might be enough to kill a spacewalker!

I've got nothing against China but I don't think ANY country should be turning the space around the earth into a cosmic shooting gallery for future space travelers.

I don't really care about a few chunks of metal hitting the moon, it happens all the time whether we do it or whether it's an iron meteorite deflected from the asteroid belt. I mean just look at the moon, it's covered in craters, right? What's one more and it will be so tiny you won't even be able to see it with the naked eye will you?

reply to post by jra


I guess a more focused response would have been if Kim Jong Il (spelling???) were to do this...

See, why can't all corrections be of this nature...
"No, that's not completely true, and here's why..."
Man, I love learning!

-Chaos

Originally posted by Arbitrageur
This is nothing to get upset about.

Well you try dumping your old refrigerator on the side of the road see what happens

But what the heck... we can always make slaves of them Martians to clean up our mess right? After all no laws out there ;P

reply to post by Arbitrageur


I saw a TV special a few years ago that said something like..

a 1/2" Nut travelling at escape velocity of earth's gravity could hit a space shuttle or space station with the same velocity as a 500 pound steel safe dropped from 180 feet. Wow.

But honestly.. I think missile defense technology is getting alot better.

The new MKV-II variant is pretty mind boggling. They just tested the MKV system back last December (some pretty mind-blowing youtube videos on this). Any one of the kill vehicles can take over command and control of the other units. This means that even if the countermeasures work (in the case of an ICBM) the target can still be destroyed along with the decoys.

But you are exactly right.

NORAD only monitors orbiting space debris about the size of a softball and bigger.. When just one errant bolt or nut can take down an entire multi-billion dollar space station or shuttle.

Think of a 500 pound safe dropped on someone's chest from 180 feet. That's what about what a 1/2" nut could do to a spacewalking astronaut.

-ChriS

[edit on 21-8-2009 by BlasteR]

Just over a week now until impact. Impact time is still listed on the NASA website LCROSS page: "Projected impact at the lunar South Pole is currently: Oct 9, 2009 at 4:30 a.m. PDT"

NASA have also shifted the target crater from Cabeus A to Cabeus (proper).

Should be interesting to see what data is collected.

[edit on 1/10/2009 by 0010110011101]