New Radar Maps of Moon

SpaceAdmiral writes to mention that NASA has some new high-resolution radar maps of the Moon obtained by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The new images have also been used to create a simulation of the Moon's day and a movie of a Moon landing from the point of view of the astronaut. "NASA is eying the Moon's south polar region as a possible site for future outposts. The location has many advantages; for one thing, there is evidence of water frozen in deep dark south polar craters. Water can be split into oxygen to breathe and hydrogen to burn as rocket fuel--or astronauts could simply drink it. Planners are also looking for 'peaks of eternal light.' Tall polar mountains where the sun never sets might be a good place for a solar power station."

H2O - H2 + O2

[PetiePooo]

Water can be split into oxygen to breathe and hydrogen to burn as rocket fuel...

And if the astronauts are breathing all of the O2, what oxidizing agent do they plan to burn the H2 with?

Journalists should really have some knowledge of the topic they're writing about before spouting their blather...

Re:Well, it's a great location...

[Anonymous Coward]

not to mention the commute...

Re:Sunlight 24/7

[Anonymous Coward]

From what I understand is you'd want your moon base near both eternal sunshine and eternal darkness. Sunshine for solar power and darkness for ice and other volatiles. Sadly, those places are near the poles and Earth based radar isn't going to do a very good job of mapping the poles. For that you need an orbiter, which is in the works.

Re:Err.. Why do we need H20 for fuel again when,

[PieSquared]

There was nothing to do on the moon for the past 30 years. But we're running into the limits of earth-based telescopes, and of course there's the possibility of fusion any time now... Both those are things that weren't true in the 70's.

Also, at least as importantly, there are now other people who want to go there again and might be able to. When we stopped going to the moon, russia couldn't afford it any more and they were being torn apart anyway. Now china, india, russia, japan, and more might want to go to the moon... and might be able to before long... so we have to as well. Otherwise they good the good locations if we ever *do* need to go back. It's also being given as a stepping stone to mars. That might not be a great reason, but enough people think it is a good reason that it will be one of the reasons we finally go to the moon if we do go any time soon.

I wish they'd just stop

[isomeme]

I was seven years old when Apollo XI landed on the moon. I grew up with the space race, and that was big part of what got me hooked on science and engineering. I watched every mission with absolute fascination, and dreamed endlessly about how space travel would continue to develop during my lifetime.

Now, nearly 40 years later, we've barely made progress on manned space travel. I am amazed and thrilled by the scientific successes achieved through unmanned satellites and probes. But humans haven't been further from Earth than San Diego is from Los Angeles in decades.

It's gotten to the point that I don't even want to read articles about NASA's manned space program anymore. What they're actually doing is pathetic; the aging, dangerous shuttles exist only to service ISS, and ISS exists only as a place for the shuttles to go. And NASA's plans for future moon and Mars missions are so long-term as to be meaningless; why talk about building solar power stations on eternally sunlit peaks when development of a new heavy-lift launch system is getting nowhere?

It's astonishing to me that I have gone from being thrilled with manned space travel to wincing when I read about it, but that's what has happened.