There's a hole in the moon

[krakenslayer]

I found this somewhat interesting. Japanese and NASA lunar orbiters have photographed football-field sized "skylights" (massive sink holes leading down into underground lava caves) on the surface of the moon.

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/rare-moon-hole-photographed-100624.html

[AcesandEights]

There's a BP joke here somewhere.

[darth los]

This is why as tempting as it might be to cut off funding for the space program, particularly in these tight finacial times, it's probably not a good idea.

I just have a feeling that we're going to find something that is really going to benefit mankind in the long run. Either that or kill us! :dead:

:cool:

[Danny]

lava? huh. i always made the ignorant assumption the moon was just a large dead, inactive ball of minerals and rock. First thing that comes to mind is theres gonna be a load of minerals and ores people would kill to claim a stake on.

I wouldnt be surprised if thats the next big conflict in terms of recourses. A future california gold rush yknow?

[krakenslayer]

lava? huh. i always made the ignorant assumption the moon was just a large dead, inactive ball of minerals and rock. First thing that comes to mind is theres gonna be a load of minerals and ores people would kill to claim a stake on.

I wouldnt be surprised if thats the next big conflict in terms of recourses. A future california gold rush yknow?

It's dead now, hellsing. The cavity into which the skylight opens is a lava tube, basically a cave that once served as a conduit for magma, now (of course) long cooled and solidified. We're talking millions and millions of years old.

[darth los]

But I do think he has a point about conflicts for the moons resources at some point.

Perhaps that's the reason they won't shut the space program down? :rolleyes:

It's for the same reason they just won't blow up that damn well in the gulf.

There's just too much money to be made.

:cool:

[bassman]

I just have a feeling that we're going to find something that is really going to benefit mankind in the long run. Either that or kill us! :dead:


The Sam Rockwell are already hard at work mining the Helium-3.:p

[darth los]

The Sam Rockwell are already hard at work mining the Helium-3.:p

:lol::lol::lol::lol:

I hadn't even thought of that.

:cool:

[Danny]

It's dead now, hellsing. The cavity into which the skylight opens is a lava tube, basically a cave that once served as a conduit for magma, now (of course) long cooled and solidified. We're talking millions and millions of years old.

Wouldnt the intense heat and millions of years of time passed allow for the diamonds and such to form? (bear in mind geology was my weakest subject in school.

[Terran]

Wouldnt the intense heat and millions of years of time passed allow for the diamonds and such to form? (bear in mind geology was my weakest subject in school.

In a pseudo vacuum diamonds can actually form very rapidly.
I say pseudo because it isnt exactly a vacuum because there are various gases floating around where space diamonds form.

You need the following (in outer space):
Carbon containing substances.
A 'carrier' gas (usually Hydrogen).
And something to excite the carrier gas (electrico/magnetic fields between gas clouds and large objects would do the trick.)

The reaction that occurs is called gas vapor deposition.

Essentially what occurs is that the carrier gas gets excited by the electromagnetic field and turns into plasma.

All this energy breaks up the bonds that the Carbon containing substances have.

Now you have a bunch of "free floating" Carbon atoms.

The Carbon though is still surrounded by other Carbon atoms. And they start to form bonds with each other.
Since all this plasma is still being generated the Carbon can only really form bond relationships that are extremely stable.
So the Carbon begins to crystallize out of the plasma gas mixture in the same way that rock candy crystallizes out of a super saturated solution of sugar and water.


And BAM! there you have diamonds formed in the absence of super high pressures over huge amounts of time.
This is basically how we make synthetic diamonds today.


Since carbon and hydrogen are so common in the universe, it is suspected that diamonds are very common in certain areas of space where conditions are right.

[krakenslayer]

Wouldnt the intense heat and millions of years of time passed allow for the diamonds and such to form? (bear in mind geology was my weakest subject in school.

I doubt it, as diamonds are formed from carbon, most commonly found in the Earth's crust as coal or graphite. The vast majority of geological coal and graphite is formed from dead organic matter (i.e. dead flora and fauna). Since the moon has always been devoid of life, I would expect its composition to be very low in carbon and therefore unlikely to yeild diamonds.

Moon rocks, however, do contain various other valuable minerals, including some that would likely become more valuable should space travel become a large industry (oxygen, for a start).

[AcesandEights]

Wouldnt the intense heat and millions of years of time passed allow for the diamonds and such to form? (bear in mind geology was my weakest subject in school.

If there were diamonds on the moon, don't you think we would have heard of GI Joe and Cobra battling over them by now?

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b205/DougOBrien/MassDevice.jpg

Now I have to go and wiki/google to figure out what the Moon might actually have in it mineral-wise.

Okay, both the internal structure and external geology of the moon are thought to have some valuable minerals, but I didn't see anything too crazy or cool to pay for all the tech advances and trouble necessary for getting there & exploiting the finds. Then again, the technology would probably pay for itself in jobs created and discoveries & new technical applications that would come about as a bi-product and i certainly didn't see enough in my 5 minutes of research to speak for or against the reality of mining the moon.

Cool, if somewhat dated, article about Mining the Moon (http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/space/1283056) in Popular Mechanics.

[JDFP]

I just have a feeling that we're going to find something that is really going to benefit mankind in the long run. Either that or kill us! :dead:

:cool:

Hmm...

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_lCKkeKdiLo8/S4sQ9o1B8cI/AAAAAAAAATM/TmYXeMxGUig/s400/2001-a-space-odyssey-ape-monolith.jpg

:D

j.p.

[darth los]

[/COLOR]
If there were diamonds on the moon, don't you think we would have heard of GI Joe and Cobra battling over them by now?

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b205/DougOBrien/MassDevice.jpg

Now I have to go and wiki/google to figure out what the Moon might actually have in it mineral-wise.

Okay, both the internal structure and external geology of the moon are thought to have some valuable minerals, but I didn't see anything too crazy or cool to pay for all the tech advances and trouble necessary for getting there & exploiting the finds. Then again, the technology would probably pay for itself in jobs created and discoveries & new technical applications that would come about as a bi-product and i certainly didn't see enough in my 5 minutes of research to speak for or against the reality of mining the moon.

Cool, if somewhat dated, article about Mining the Moon (http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/space/1283056) in Popular Mechanics.

Perhaps when it's all said and done, with the way we are screwing this planet up, the most valuable things about the moon is being able to make it livable for whatever humans are left.

:cool:

[Mike70]

Moon rocks, however, do contain various other valuable minerals, including some that would likely become more valuable should space travel become a large industry (oxygen, for a start).

there are some really gigantic titanium deposits on the moon. that alone would make the attempt worthwhile.

[Wyldwraith]

Actually,
Some dwarf star out there collapsed into some unthinkably large diamond. Really. Something like 300 trillion carats or some ridiculousness.

[darth los]

Moon rocks, however, do contain various other valuable minerals, including some that would likely become more valuable should space travel become a large industry (oxygen, for a start).

So mel Brooks had it right then?

http://www.kamenlee.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/cannedair.JPG

:cool:

[EvilNed]

Diamonds are sought after because they are rare and nice to look at. If we were to stumble upon an entire planet made of diamonds, then it would be just another rock.

[Terran]

Diamonds are sought after because they are rare and nice to look at. If we were to stumble upon an entire planet made of diamonds, then it would be just another rock.

Yeah and found diamonds are 'steller' for

Machining and cutting tools
Thermal conductors
Optical material
:rockbrow:
And if you are making the diamonds yourself(synthetic diamonds) you can turn them into Electronics (semi conductors)...much much much better than current silicon chips and can handle much higher voltages because of their heat characteristics.....

[darth los]

Diamonds are sought after because they are rare and nice to look at. If we were to stumble upon an entire planet made of diamonds, then it would be just another rock.

You mean the way the earth is chock full of them?

It's believed that they purposely make them "rare" in order to keep them expensive.

:cool: