Lunar Location Scout: Why Finding a Parking Spot on the Moon is Not Easy

You wouldn't think it'd be hard to find a parking spot on the moon.  It's not exactly Disneyland - not a lot of visitors, absolutely no locals, and over forty million square kilometers there isn't a single ride (probably because people have already ridden the ultimate one to get there). 

But what it does have is great big rocks, lots of them, and if you bounce your lunar lander off one of those on your way down you'll lose more than your no claims bonus.  Damage your vehicle and you aren't coming back to the planet of Discovery channel, pizza hut and "that oxygen stuff."  Hence the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) - a robotic scout that will map likely landing zones for future lunarnauts. 

That's right: we're going back to the moon, yeehah!  This time we're hoping to stay longer, which is awesome, so the LRO will be scoping out interesting regions around the poles.  Some crater rims are almost permanently bathed in sunlight (meaning a constant power source) as well as being close to suspected water and suitable building resources.  Yes, building - ambitious plans are afoot to use local materials to build walls and shielding for a future moonbase. Like the solar power, this saves NASA the huge expense of hoisting extra material off the Earth.  Far better to use what you find: it's green (or gray, on the moon), it's efficient, and it's good practice for doing the same thing further afield.

The LRO will use a variety of cameras, thermo-sensors and even laser measurements (courtesy of the LOLA Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter) to provide maximum information for moon mission masterminds.  And in as soon as twelve years, it might be looking down on people.

http://www.physorg.com/news139830912.html

Comments

[Zeon]

I read this blog regularly. It has a whole lot of interesting stuff and environment updates. I never really commented for any post though. I really felt like commenting on this one because your points in this blogs adds to the moon landing conspiracy.

For eg: When you had said "we're going back to the moon, yeehah!" means that Americans already went their ones. But the conspiracy theory has enough proof that no man landed on moon yet. Which I actually believe. Now if Americans have already landed there, why can't they use the same co-ordinates again? And how did they land the 1st time?

[bob g.]

This is for Zeon. There is a naysayer and conspiracy nut no matter what happens. I'm sure there is a picture somewhere (Google Sky?) of the lunar landing site you could see. There are countless people who were involved in the lunar missions, dont you think one of them would have spilled the beans if it was a fake?