40th Anniversary of Apollo 11 mission to the moon

[AJ Rimmer]

...and no great achievements have been reached ever since.

Permanent habitat in space, most powerful telescope ever built placed in orbit, several unmanned landings on Mars, explorations of the Galilean moons and the first two man-made objects to have left the solar system and the world's first completely re-usable space delivery system.

...now don't make me copy+paste that again!

 

[Tyguy]

fun fact: the moon's "dust" is made up of around 30-60 percent glass. that's why it appears so bright when the sun hits it.

i just blew your ****ing minds. don't make me blow something else.

 

[VirusType2]

Destroy the moon! Earth will now be in perfect darkness at night, making night optic warfighters even more effective! Take over the Earth!

 

[Murray]

Permanent habitat in space, most powerful telescope ever built placed in orbit, several unmanned landings on Mars, explorations of the Galilean moons and the first two man-made objects to have left the solar system and the world's first completely re-usable space delivery system.

...now don't make me copy+paste that again!

I guess I didn't copy paste enough tongue emoticons (1).

But seriously, great achievements as some may see them, it's not like any of those were celebrated nearly as massively as the moon landing.

 

[Tyguy]

Destroy the moon! Earth will now be in perfect darkness at night, making night optic warfighters even more effective! Take over the Earth!

destroying the moon would destroy us as well. We are gravitational **** buddies.

 

[CptStern]

destroying the moon would destroy us as well. We are gravitational **** buddies.

someone hasnt been watching Thundarr the barbarian

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhAobPugvsk

 

[Saturos]

fun fact: the moon's "dust" is made up of around 30-60 percent glass. that's why it appears so bright when the sun hits it.

i just blew your ****ing minds. don't make me blow something else.

wat? :|

I thought any type of sand is basically unrefined glass. Even Mars' sand is glass.

Gives me an idea for private enterprise to start colonizing the moon too. They can send back tons of moon dust to refineries and then to glass making factories. Imagine...dinnerware and drinking glasses can be marketed as being made from, "moon dust". People are stupid enough to fall for a scheme like that. "OMG! da glass is like...made from MOON DUST!!!!"

Ha ha genius.

 

[Tyguy]

wat? :|

I thought any type of sand is basically unrefined glass. Even Mars' sand is glass.

"Moondust is strange stuff," explains Taylor. "Each little grain of moondust is coated with a layer of glass only a few hundred nanometers thick (1/100th the diameter of a human hair)."

took me a minute to find but i guess this is right. I read about it in a book called "Rare Earth" by Peter Ward. Great book imo, it delves into the reasons why life may or may not be abundant in the universe and Ward explains the theory behind it.

 

[Saturos]

took me a minute to find but i guess this is right. I read about it in a book called "Rare Earth" by Peter Ward. Great book imo, it delves into the reasons why life may or may not be abundant in the universe and Ward explains the theory behind it.

Maybe the miniscule amount of glass coating on each grain is caused by solar flares super-heating the sand/dust and whatnot?

 

[delusional]

Shit, in 10 years, we'll be on mars. Or pretty damn close to it.

I'm sure once NASA starts this whole outsourcing thing to private industry, the whole space thing is going to move along much quicker.

I don't want any godamned Pepsi logos and Brittney spears in my Space. Keep that shit in earth.

 

[Tyguy]

Maybe the miniscule amount of glass coating on each grain is caused by solar flares super-heating the sand/dust and whatnot?

i'd assume it's a result of meteorites basically melting the molecules in the soil and changing their composition.

 

[Saturos]

i'd assume it's a result of meteorites basically melting the molecules in the soil and changing their composition.

Oops, I meant solar winds. Flares don't jump that far.

How can meteorites melt the sand? The moon has no atmosphere, so there's no heat generated from atmospheric re-entry or anything. Unless they've been heated by solar winds first.

 

[Tyguy]

Oops, I meant solar winds. Flares don't jump that far.

How can meteorites melt the sand? The moon has no atmosphere, so there's no heat generated from atmospheric re-entry or anything. Unless they've been heated by solar winds first.

the impact of the meteorite...amirite?

Researchers believe the glass is a by-product of bombardment. Tiny micrometeorites hit the surface of the moon, generating temperatures hotter than 2,000°C, literally the surface temperature of red stars. Such extreme heat vaporizes molecules in the melted soil. "The vapors consist of compounds such as FeO and SiO2," says Taylor. If the temperature is high enough, the molecules split into their atomic components: Si, Fe, O and so on. Later, when the vapors cool, the atoms recombine and condense on grains of moondust, depositing a layer of silicon dioxide (SiO2) glass peppered with tiny nuggets of pure iron (Fe).

 

[Saturos]

the impact of the meteorite...amirite?

Yeah, but what actually causes the heat?

A chemical reaction from the meteorite's/moon's composite materials? Friction?

 

[PvtRyan]

Yeah, friction. As in: the friction generated by stopping a meteorite of a million tons going at 20 km/s within a few seconds.

 

[Cpt Tenacious]

someone hasnt been watching Thundarr the barbarian

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhAobPugvsk

That sun sword is fabulous.

 

[swan_song1973]

It was faked.

--Advocatus Diaboli

oh ya, you can see the set in Vice City.

 

[-Psy-]

Space is ****ing awesome. Anybody heard of a space elevator?

 

[AJ Rimmer]

Space is ****ing awesome. Anybody heard of a space elevator?

Mmm-hmm. There's a great book by Arthur C. Clarke called The Fountains of Paradise about this.