Water discovered on the Moon

eazzie

Nasa has discovered water on the moon that could lead to deep space travel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U70y8ypCbyA&feature=emb_logo

legendarylycan

unless this is some special kind of water, i don't see how it's going to lead to deep space travel - we already want to do that as it is​​

eazzie

shadowfang240 wrote: »

unless this is some special kind of water, i don't see how it's going to lead to deep space travel - we already want to do that as it is​​

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/nasa-moon-announcement-today-news-water-lunar-surface-wet-b1346311.html

jonsills

What's been found, if further observations bear it out (remember the "phosphine" in the Venusian atmosphere, or the FTL neutrinos?), is a fairly trivial amount of water; it's scientifically interesting because it exists in conditions that should have sublimated the ice in short order, but it's not going to be "the key to deep space". (For that, you probably want the subsurface ocean of water ice in Ceres, or the water ice in Saturn's rings.)

legendarylycan

you mean the phosphorous they found barely two weeks ago and that my main go-to for science stuff (isaac arthur) did a video on relating to its involvement in the fermi paradox literally just days before the discovery such that he had to add a last-minute addendum to the video mentioning it?​​

jonsills

Phosphine, not phosphorous - you'd expect to find phosphorous, given the fact that it's a rocky planet with a corrosive atmosphere. The phosphine they thought they found generally results from either lab conditions that Venus doesn't enjoy, or biological processes.

Unfortunately, further investigation failed to reproduce the results. It would appear to have resulted from a misreading, kind of like the way the "FTL neutrinos" turned out to be a mismeasurement due to a loose cable. Until further observation backs up the SOFIA data, I'm reserving judgment on that part. However, even if it's there, it's more a scientific curiosity than anything else at this point, as the results don't show a useful amount of water ice.

centersolace

jonsills wrote: »

Phosphine, not phosphorous - you'd expect to find phosphorous, given the fact that it's a rocky planet with a corrosive atmosphere. The phosphine they thought they found generally results from either lab conditions that Venus doesn't enjoy, or biological processes.

Unfortunately, further investigation failed to reproduce the results. It would appear to have resulted from a misreading, kind of like the way the "FTL neutrinos" turned out to be a mismeasurement due to a loose cable. Until further observation backs up the SOFIA data, I'm reserving judgment on that part. However, even if it's there, it's more a scientific curiosity than anything else at this point, as the results don't show a useful amount of water ice.

No, but it does mean that the conditions for liquid water are potentially far more common than usually thought. The possibility for liquid water on a planet with little to no atmosphere has interesting implications for the possibilities of life.

jonsills

centersolace wrote: »

jonsills wrote: »

Phosphine, not phosphorous - you'd expect to find phosphorous, given the fact that it's a rocky planet with a corrosive atmosphere. The phosphine they thought they found generally results from either lab conditions that Venus doesn't enjoy, or biological processes.

Unfortunately, further investigation failed to reproduce the results. It would appear to have resulted from a misreading, kind of like the way the "FTL neutrinos" turned out to be a mismeasurement due to a loose cable. Until further observation backs up the SOFIA data, I'm reserving judgment on that part. However, even if it's there, it's more a scientific curiosity than anything else at this point, as the results don't show a useful amount of water ice.

No, but it does mean that the conditions for liquid water are potentially far more common than usually thought. The possibility for liquid water on a planet with little to no atmosphere has interesting implications for the possibilities of life.

What SOFIA found on the lunar surface (assuming it's borne out by further observation) was water ice, bound into the soil. It's fascinating because it should have sublimated to vapor the moment sunlight hit it, so now we have the fun of figuring out why it didn't, but it's not like you can just pull up in a lunar rover and start dipping (if nothing else, open liquids in vacuum will quickly boil away due to effectively zero pressure). And we already know water ice is plentiful; Ceres is filled with it (and therefore likely other asteroids as well), it makes up the surface of Europa and may well conceal an ocean of liquid water beneath, and it's the main component of Saturn's rings, along with dust. This isn't terribly surprising, though, as water is one of the most common compounds in the universe (hydrogen is the most common element, oxygen isn't exactly rare, and given proximity to one another they will combine, whether you want them to or not).

legendarylycan

hydrogen is the second most common element - stupidity is the most common​​

jonsills

Stupidity isn't an element, it's a fundamental force, like gravity or sex.

hawku001x

This is pretty cool for those who want to wash their hands in space one day.

fleetcaptain5

We'll need to learn how to create a perfect circle of recycle-use of this water though.

Closest we've got is the Biosphere 2 project I think? And as far as I know, that suffered from some serious leaks.