Monday, October 25, 2010
A Lunar Desert Isn't That Wet
I'm not sure what to make of these results. I am not a planetary scientist, but there was no blatant traces of water when the Centaur stage impacted on the Moon. Some of this water is likely non-existent, just hydrogen ions trapped in the lunar regolith. The news reports have been hyping that the Moon is a lot wetter than we thought. It is highly likely that the Moon is a drier desert than any desert on Earth. It is quite probable that the earthly deserts look like rain forests compared to the aridity of the Moon.
Perhaps in 100-250 years if the scientific pace keeps up, we'll be able to terraform our Moon and make it a green and blue ball in our sky. A silver Moon will be a memory of the past. Arthur C. Clarke wrote a story featuring a Russian scientist who was accidentally killed by a plant he created that could live and thrive on the Moon. Can you imagine lunar redwoods that dwarf the redwoods in the Pacific Northwest? We'd have to import a lot of icy comets from the Oort Cloud, but likely, the water we need is there.
Perhaps in 100-250 years if the scientific pace keeps up, we'll be able to terraform our Moon and make it a green and blue ball in our sky. A silver Moon will be a memory of the past. Arthur C. Clarke wrote a story featuring a Russian scientist who was accidentally killed by a plant he created that could live and thrive on the Moon. Can you imagine lunar redwoods that dwarf the redwoods in the Pacific Northwest? We'd have to import a lot of icy comets from the Oort Cloud, but likely, the water we need is there.
Labels: Lunar water
