NASA's New Mission: Project Moon Explosion

Perhaps inspired by all the stellar explosions they've been watching on telescope recently, NASA have decided to take a more direct strategy in investigation of the moon.  And by "strategy" we mean "ramming it at top speed and then exploding".  Either that, or they're planning to punch a big hole and ask all the conspiracy nuts "Okay, tell us how we faked THAT!"

NASA aren't messing around with the impact either - gearing up a two ton Liquid Oxygen/Liquid Hydrogen Centaur rocket stage to slam into the lunar surface at nine thousand kilometers per hour.  There is not a single word in that system that is not dangerous - 9000 km/h will flatten you, look up "amazingly flammable" in the dictionary and you won't find liquid hydrogen or oxygen (because they were too terrified to get near the stuff), and according to Greek literature Centaurs were pretty a pretty mean bunch too.

The only place they dropped the ball is the name: "LCROSS (Lunar CRater and Observation Sensing Satellite)" is a total missed opportunity in terms of titles.  Was "Project: Moon Explosion" already taken, and if so by what?  Unfortunately this oversight may not be the last, because when you can't come up with a cool name when you're sending a giant fuel tank into space to hit the moon and explode, you're never going to.

You'll be surprised to know that this mission needs careful navigation.  "Surely it's not possible to miss the moon!" you exclaim, but it turns out this isn't just a PR stunt by the space agency - there's vital science at work as well.  They're targeting polar craters which have shown tantalizing evidence of hydrogen, where the impact will throw up over a thousand tons of lunar material thanks to the loose nature of the impact site, low gravity and the absence of an atmosphere.  A second, less kamikaze satellite will scan this debris for evidence of water, whose presence would revolutionise mankind's plans for our nearest neighbour.

But never mind the moonbases and the potential for space - this new method of investigation could bring a better world for everyone right here on Earth.  Police being called to "investigate" the driver who blares drum and bass at 2 am will be much more effective, and paparazzi constantly investigating Paris Hilton's love life would soon dissuade her from all fame-seeking.  Unfortunately for this, as for many other matters, scientists aren't actually in charge.

Posted by Luke McKinney.

 

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Moon-mangling mission

Comments

[knoxvilledaniel]

It sounds like a great opportunity to explore our nearest celestial / planetary neighbour. ( Yes, Virginia, the Moon is part of a double - planet system. )
One wonders if there are any volatiles in the regolith that could be ignited by the brief contact with oxygen ?

I personally hope that this is a precursor to a serious RETURN TO THE MOON.

[Tom]

Smashy-Smashy.

Sweet.

Seriouslly, though, I think this is a pretty cool idea and can't wait to see what comes of it.

[Ryan]

What if we threw the moon out of orbit? what would that do to us?

[Taz]

Does this mean, we back in business. J it took what 30 yrs or so to discover that we need serious investments.

[Jesse]

Let's see, if NASA mixes hydrogen and oxygen together to make a big explosion won't that automatically create water (H2O)? Why would NASA contaminate the site of the explosion with the very substance they're trying to find? I'm not saying NASA doesn't have a good reason for doing this, I just want to know what it is.

[Rogue]

alright who the fuck created this horse shit? It's an obvious fake cause you can't create an explosion in space nimrods. Space is a vacuum which is void of oxygen and oxygen is needed in order to create an explosion. and trust me, there won't be anywhere near enough oxygen in that missile to create any form of explosion. If you wanna make any claim like this than come up with a plausible idea that can actually WORK!!!

[Alexander Hartdegen]

Kukuku, what if we do this explosion and we send the moon crashing into the earth? God there is a reason why hollywood has stuff like this backfire in our faces. But I digress. If it works out just fine, hey good for them. I would be happy if it does work.

[K]

...For the geniuses in the crowd: the moon is obscenely massive. All the nuclear weapons in the world wouldn't be enough to budge it measurably, much less enough to 'send it crashing into the Earth'. Even if we could, the way orbital mechanics work means that it would go wandering off into space, not crashing into us, in all but maybe 0.00000001% of the courses it could take.

For the 'LOLOL NO XPLOSHUNS IN SPAEC' genius: you are confusing combustion with the idea of an explosion. How, exactly, did you thinks the sprays of crater ejecta on the lunar surface came about? The rocks that hit it certainly weren't rich sources of oxygen, now were they? It's called kinetic force, and anyone who has access to a bucket of water can see it in action by sending a drop into the still surface. See that splash? That's what they did to the moon, you blithering imbecile - hit any surface hard and fast enough and you'll get a splash. Do try to actually understand the basic physics before you start vomiting up your half-baked dementia at the rest of us.

As for the LO/LH booster - yes, there will be water vapor. However, they know the amount contained, and they can factor it /out/ - and they're looking for quite a bit more, I expect, than what little will be left aboard the rocket at the time.

[I hate the nut head who did this to our moon]

Have they not heard of Drilling water!!!!.

Yes destroy the moon and then look for its debris so that we can put our nut head scientist on it who design this project and then he can tell us that their was once water on it.

Or better lets completely destroy the crater that has the only sign of water. Then we will look for another one and hopefully do the same thing with that as well.

I am thinking 2012!!!