Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft has detected hydrogen on the Moon's south polar region. Could this mean that there is ice or frozen methane on the Moon?
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/18/science/space/18moon.html
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-sci-moon18-2009sep18,0,3019406.story
http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=nasas-moon-orbiter-returns-promisin-2009-09-17
Lets send a mission to Ceres to see if here is water there. If so, it would be the gas station for the entire Solar System.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure there's plenty of hydrocarbons in the regolith of Ceres. A mass driver could probably launch blocks of ice into orbit for cheap transport by light sail back to L1, L2, L4, or L5.
ReplyDeleteBut that would be a long manned space flight. Living in a regolith shielded biodome under a 1/36 hypogravity environment might be interesting!