Here's a summary:
NASA is going to crash some spacecraft into two of the moon's craters to have it stir up dust, so it can be easily seen by telescopes.
Why does NASA want to crash into the moon's craters?
Yes, that's what I thought. They want to explore the past. They believe it MAY help them understand what happened billions of years ago.
"By understanding what's in these craters, we're examining a fossil record of the early solar system and would occurred at Earth 3 billion years ago," Colaprete said. LCROSS is currently aiming at target craters Faustini and Shoemaker, which Colaprete likened to "fantastic time capsules" at 3 billion and 3.5 billion years old.
What worries me about this mission?
1. Doesn't the moon regulate the tide?
2. Do we own the moon? Who are we to determine it's ok to crash spacecraft into the moon. Perhaps, they think it's fine because the Europeans did something similar:
The Deep Impact mission made history in 2005 by sending a probe crashing into comet Tempel 1. Besides Lunar Prospector's grazing strike on the moon in 1999, the European Space Agency's Smart-1 satellite dove more recently into the lunar surface in 2006.
3. Anyone think several millions of dollars can be better spent on EARTH and humans?
Figuring out the final destinations for the $79 million LCROSS mission is "like trying to drive to San Francisco and not knowing where it is on the map," Colaprete said. He and other mission scientists hope to use observations from LRO and the Japanese Kaguya (Selene) lunar orbiter to map crater locations before LCROSS dives in.
Haven't humans done enough damage to the world? The Earth is being abused daily. The effects of global warming are evident.
Seriously, I think spending several million dollars to crash into the moon is ludicrous. How are they getting this ridiculous amount of funding?
I'd love to hear what you think?
5 comments:
Wow, I'm all for NASA research but this sounds weird!
Yes, the moon does regulate the tide, based on it's orbit and gravity. You've seen the craters on the moon? They're caused by things crashing into it that are several magnitudes larger in size than anything we mere humans could launch at it, so it is highly unlikely that these craft will have any impact on the tides, or do any other damage to the moon except for the space junk we'll be leaving there. Is the knowledge the scientists hope to gain worth $79 million? I don't know. You are right, we've done a piss-poor job of maintaining our own planet so far. If we learn enough about how our own life-supporting solar system evolved, maybe it will help us identify other life-supporting systems in the future, for possible colonization, or - dare I suggest it - contact with other intelligent life forms.
Seems like a lot of money going to waste. $79 million?
While it might seem wasteful now, imagine what would have happened if all of Einstein's "irrelevant" research had been destroyed.
I think that it is very sad that many people do not realize that NASA, for all its expense, is the only government agency that turns a profit. It also is the only government agency that has consistently helped the American public. Check out this flash presentation - http://www.nasa.gov/topics/nasalife/index.html - you're probably more positively affected by NASA than you think!
Maybe we can volunteer some of our favorite politicians to take the ride, so they can film up close???
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