Mining the Moon - Good or Bad?

Tefal · 7 Mar 2015 at 19:42

arknor said:
You do realise how simple calculations to maintain an orbit are? you can do them by hand

the three body problem calculations you'd need to do to maneuver a asteroid into an orbit however are very complicated and that's with an accurate weight etc

Freefaller · 7 Mar 2015 at 19:45

Tefal said:
well no.

it's not something you can really get around, if you split an atomic nucleus perfectly in half, when you weigh each half it wont add up to the same as it was as a whole it will be ever so slightly less, that's because the strong nuclear forces in the atom count towards its mass, once they're broken the mass is converted into energy via the famous equation E=mc^2

to say split a heavy element like lead down into lighter more useful elements you'd be releasing masses of energy (in one book where the earth had been destroyed by "grey goo" nano machines an man was living in space this was their main source of energy further out and resulted in the odd economy where lead was worth more than gold because it could be split down more resulting in more energy.) on the scales needed for industry, instead of that "m" being fractions of a gram it would be in tons.

feel free to put that figure into the equation cause you'll see why its not a sensible solution unless you can think of a way of dissipating teratonnes of TNT equivalent of energy a second.

Yes yes I know all of that, most people that did GCSEs know that

However you just don't know what we may be able to achieve, or what may be possible. Our knowledge of physics is tiny compared to that of our existence, and yet our existence is insignificant to that of the age of the universe.

Yes it could all be science fiction, but I just see it as quite limiting thinking that we can't do much more with our knowledge of physics - we may uncover new solutions/theories/physics laws or whatever. In the here and now, of course you're 100% correct - in a few millenia? Who knows? It's quite something to think about though

Glaucus · 7 Mar 2015 at 19:46

Freefaller said:
No but one small change may allow us knowledge or understanding which changes everything.

Like the recent big bang is now suggested that the theory could be wrong which could change the way we look at the galaxy.

That's not really tested physics. There's plenty f physics open for debate, just like theres plenty of physics that are extremely unlikely to change. There's many different levels of accepted proof.

Freefaller · 7 Mar 2015 at 19:48

Glaucus said:
That's not really tested physics. There's plenty f physics open for debate, just like theres plenty of physics that are extremely unlikely to change. There's many different levels of accepted proof.

Indeed - so to dismiss ideas of which we have no current understanding is as unfair and far fetched as accepting that we will never evolve our knowledge of science.

Glaucus · 7 Mar 2015 at 20:05

Freefaller said:
Indeed - so to dismiss ideas of which we have no current understanding is as unfair and far fetched as accepting that we will never evolve our knowledge of science.

Off course, I wasn't siding with the other guy.
And to say making matter from energy is impossible is silly, as they are one and the same. We just have no idea how to do it, or how to power it, well we could in case a star in solar panels and harness that.

sand_dune · 7 Mar 2015 at 20:06

Don't frack with what you don't know. There's no water on the Moon, so nobody knows how fracking can be made possible there.

Glaucus · 7 Mar 2015 at 20:06

There's plenty of water on the moon.

sand_dune · 7 Mar 2015 at 20:08

Glaucus said:
There's plenty of water on the moon.

Do you know that for sure? If yes you need to tell the scientists.

Glaucus · 7 Mar 2015 at 20:09

sand_dune said:
Do you know that for sure? If yes you need to tell the scientists.

The scientists know and have known for decades. The Russian return samples werw 0.1% water by weight,
Then on top of that in the past decade you've had all the survey missions.

sand_dune · 7 Mar 2015 at 20:10

Is there any mineral water? Because I have a great business idea.

ebilcake · 7 Mar 2015 at 20:28

It's probably a bad idea, the issue of ownership would get a little complicated.

But it's certainly possible but would take a huge investment to get started which I doubt the general public would ever agree too.

The only country that could afford it right now is probably the US, Russia doesn't have the huge wealth from oil that it once did.

Freefaller · 7 Mar 2015 at 20:29

Glaucus said:
Off course, I wasn't siding with the other guy.
And to say making matter from energy is impossible is silly, as they are one and the same. We just have no idea how to do it, or how to power it, well we could in case a star in solar panels and harness that.

Agreed. We don't have the ability yet to split atoms or bond atoms together to create elements without needing massive bits of equipment - but we may be able to create those sorts of energy requirements in the future in something portable or more compact that we currently have. Time will tell!

Freefaller · 7 Mar 2015 at 20:30

sand_dune said:
Is there any mineral water? Because I have a great business idea.

Eau de Lune?

Castiel · 7 Mar 2015 at 20:55

I think it's unethical to mine the moon. We do enough destruction of natural habitats here on earth.

Freefaller · 7 Mar 2015 at 21:04

Castiel said:
I think it's unethical to mine the moon. We do enough destruction of natural habitats here on earth.

I did bring this up, but it seems I was in the minority.

FunkyCowie · 7 Mar 2015 at 21:05

Mining asteroids would be better. Bring them in to earth orbit, hollow them out and then convert them for industrial / military use, prison colonies etc.

AHarvey · 7 Mar 2015 at 21:08

seeing as the moon is hollow there wouldn't be much to mine anyway ....

Freefaller · 7 Mar 2015 at 21:12

FunkyCowie said:
Mining asteroids would be better. Bring them in to earth orbit, hollow them out and then convert them for industrial / military use, prison colonies etc.

Or a lair for millionaires!! Or luxury hotel!

Castiel · 7 Mar 2015 at 21:13

Freefaller said:
I did bring this up, but it seems I was in the minority.

Aside from displacing The Clangers....if we have the ability to mine the moon, then surely we can mine the asteroid belt instead. Ideally we should be looking at how we ethically and sustainably use Earths resources, before demolishing our neighbours. More resources doesn't nessessarily solve some of our most pressing problems which are almost all related to having too many people rather than not enough minerals.

FunkyCowie · 7 Mar 2015 at 21:15

Castiel said:
More resources doesn't nessessarily solve some of our most pressing problems which are almost all related to having too many people rather than not enough minerals.

Are you suggesting mining people for minerals? lol