tkdguy Posted October 7, 2009 Report Share Posted October 7, 2009 On Friday, NASA plans to have a satellite crash on the Moon's South Pole. Get the full story here! Edit: More info on viewing the event here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duke Bushido Posted October 8, 2009 Report Share Posted October 8, 2009 Re: "Smackdown" on the Moon Man! Is there _anywhere_ that we won't throw our trash? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Mackinder Posted October 8, 2009 Report Share Posted October 8, 2009 Re: "Smackdown" on the Moon Well, if somebody / something shoots back, then it may be time to worry. Given the degree of bad luck seen in the earlier Martian probes, one sometimes has to wonder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted October 8, 2009 Report Share Posted October 8, 2009 Re: "Smackdown" on the Moon Interesting that you can hope to see it with a largish amateur telescope from the western US. Not worth getting my class excited about, though, not with the event supposedly at 0431 PDT tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted October 8, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 8, 2009 Re: "Smackdown" on the Moon Interesting that you can hope to see it with a largish amateur telescope from the western US. Not worth getting my class excited about' date=' though, not with the event supposedly at 0431 PDT tomorrow.[/quote'] I'll be up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted October 8, 2009 Report Share Posted October 8, 2009 Re: "Smackdown" on the Moon That's an hour before my alarm clock goes off, but by itself that isn't an issue. The need for at least a 6-inch telescope sort of dampens my enthusiasm, and the forecast for this area suggests the clouds will preclude watching anyway. If the cat (or neighbors) wakes me up about the right time I may peek anyway with my 7 by 50s, but I wouldn't bet on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted October 9, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2009 Re: "Smackdown" on the Moon Looks like the clouds may be coming in my area, so I'll have to check outside later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hyper-Man Posted October 9, 2009 Report Share Posted October 9, 2009 Re: "Smackdown" on the Moon The thread title made me think of this classic: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clonus Posted October 9, 2009 Report Share Posted October 9, 2009 Re: "Smackdown" on the Moon They missed. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5h-_pmvH6LWXDw5pIG_vxiSNMYlEg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hyper-Man Posted October 9, 2009 Report Share Posted October 9, 2009 Re: "Smackdown" on the Moon Evidently the shields on the alien outpost worked too well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted October 9, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2009 Re: "Smackdown" on the Moon Good thing I decided not to drag my telescope out and take a look after all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted October 9, 2009 Report Share Posted October 9, 2009 Re: "Smackdown" on the Moon ... I bet you were up anyway, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted October 9, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2009 Re: "Smackdown" on the Moon ... I bet you were up anyway' date=' though. [/quote'] I decided to watch the coverage on CNN, but I dozed off and woke up a few minutes after the first collision. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted October 9, 2009 Report Share Posted October 9, 2009 Re: "Smackdown" on the Moon ... It must be the age. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted October 9, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2009 Re: "Smackdown" on the Moon Must be. Last night, I said I didn't want to be 19 again, although wouldn't mind being 30 again. I think I'm officially an old man when I make those comments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted October 9, 2009 Report Share Posted October 9, 2009 Re: "Smackdown" on the Moon You have my full sympathy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted October 15, 2009 Report Share Posted October 15, 2009 Re: "Smackdown" on the Moon In retrospect it was interesting; in my 101 class we had about a half-hour discussion about the ethics of bombing other planets for scientific curiosity. As undoubtedly dead as the Moon is, this isn't a real issue for the case at hand, but it did lead to an interesting conversation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted October 15, 2009 Report Share Posted October 15, 2009 Re: "Smackdown" on the Moon Any conclusions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted October 16, 2009 Report Share Posted October 16, 2009 Re: "Smackdown" on the Moon Well, there already are a couple of voluntary moratoriums in effect, places that are unofficially off-limits for in situ exploration until questions about possible contamination with Earth-origin biologicals can be settled. The subsurface ocean of Europa is the most important of those; It'd be difficult to get a probe in there in any event, but making absolutely certain it wouldn't "infect" the place is an issue that has pushed that exploration even further from realization. Much closer to home, there's an informal agreement to avoid inserting something into the subsurface Antarctic lakes (like Lake Vostok) until contamination concerns can be definitively solved. Those lakes may have lain isolated from the surface biosphere for quite a long time, and since they're an isolated cold, lightless but liquid-water environment that's interesting in terms of evolution. Earth's Moon, being a rock that is both biologically and geologically dead in no uncertain terms, and where the principal geologic process now is impact cratering ... until there's a human-occupied station there, bombing the Moon doesn't really matter. If there was ever a place where the phrase "bounce the rubble" was relevant, it's there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted October 17, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 17, 2009 Re: "Smackdown" on the Moon Looks like they finally spotted the plume. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Mackinder Posted October 17, 2009 Report Share Posted October 17, 2009 Re: "Smackdown" on the Moon Looks like they finally spotted the plume. Let's just hope it didn't annoy Dahak too much. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutineers%27_Moon (One of my favourite novels / series) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyrath Posted October 19, 2009 Report Share Posted October 19, 2009 Re: "Smackdown" on the Moon Let's just hope it didn't annoy Dahak too much. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutineers%27_Moon I liked "The Armageddon Inheritance" better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted October 19, 2009 Report Share Posted October 19, 2009 Re: "Smackdown" on the Moon ... Armageddon outta here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted November 15, 2009 Author Report Share Posted November 15, 2009 Re: "Smackdown" on the Moon I'm surprised this article hasn't been posted yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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