Closer to Deducing the Origin of the Moon

eldavojohn writes "A giant explosion on the sun in January of 2005 allowed SMART-1 (a European spacecraft orbiting the moon) to detect what elements the moon is made up of based on the X-rays from the sun's explosion. This allows scientists to speculate on the moon's origins while seeing data from all over the moon as opposed to the core samples we have collected and returned in the past. From the article: 'Scientists responsible for the D-CIXS instrument on SMART-1 are also announcing that they have detected aluminium, magnesium and silicon. "We have good maps of iron across the lunar surface. Now we can look forward to making maps of the other elements." said SMART-1's Principal Investigator.'"

Re:Origin of moon?

[MrFebtober]

most who think that certainly wouldn't react the way you did.

Re:Valuable metals?

[Tweekster]

Actually it is a break even proposition for gold. is at about 625 per ounce...16 ounces per pound, 10,000...the current cost per pound to send something into space ( i dont know what the cost to retrieve it per pound would be, to send it back though) I would assume it is less expensive to send back, time is not exactly a factor, or life support systems etc.

It is difficult to calculate because I couldnt find much info on sending stuff back from the moon, I am willing to bet it is quite a bit cheaper. But the infrastructure on the moon etc ruins any math. It would be break even for gold to be sent into space...and retrieving it would probably be long term profitable. (providing you can find enough gold)

Platinum is 1200 dollars per ounce making it much more possible, if sufficient quantities could be found.

The cargo ship would probably be reasonably priced...no equipment on board, doesnt need to be very fast, just a computer control system and the rockets etc necessary to bring it back in. Could be an interesting proposition.

Re:Valuable metals?

[P3NIS_CLEAVER]

How is this interesting? This is stupid, the elements are pretty much distributed the same way across the universe; trace elements like palladium are rare everywhere.

For those that don't get it

[Anonymous Coward]

You'd have to read Empire from the Ashes [baen.com] (or one of the component books, this is a trilogy-in-one) by David Weber.

Re:Valuable metals?

[Sparr0]

Yeah. Everyone knows Earth has just as much Hydrogen, relative to its mass, as Jupiter. Oh.

Re:Origin of moon?

[drew]

last i checked funny mods don't actually affect your karma.

Re:Valuable metals?

['nother poster]

And you know this for a fact how? Just curious. I agree it's very unlikely that there are clumps or veins of palladium on the moon, but it's not impossible. The K-T boundary layer is significantly higher in several trace elements, so it is surmised that they came from an asteroid that hit the earth, so at least that asteroid had much higher concentrations. Why couldn't Luna?

Origin, or composition?

[Anonymous Coward]

Sounds to me that they're closer to defining the overall composition of the moon, but not necessarily the origins. If it's composed of 99% substances from a particular area of earth or other planet, perhaps it could be found that it's a seperated chunk. Alternately, it could just be made of the same materials as several planets in the solar system.

Composition might do well to helping them deduce where the moon isn't from, but I can't really see it definatively stating the overall original of the satellite. Heck, even earth may have come as an offshoot of a larger object at some point in time.

Bah, and posting AC since I moderated in this topic already

Re:Valuable metals?

[kthejoker]

Would they actually have to ship it back?

I mean, nobody has seen the gold in Fort Knox in years, but it's been traded around left and right. Plenty of people are willing to pay for pieces of paper saying they own some gold - why not just prove it's there, stake a claim on it, and then sell it here on Earth?

We can have an entire imaginary Moon economy! Awesomeness++!

Re:For those that don't get it

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, but morons with mod points will still be morons with mod points no matter how much you educate them.

Re:Valuable metals?

[Red Flayer]

12 oz. per lb. Precious metals are mesured in troy oz, not avoirdupois.

1000 grams per kilogram. People calculating the costs of getting things off of and onto Earth use metric, not archaic.

Or they learn a very expensive lesson.

Heavy Weather

[delire]

'Origins' aside, it's mining companies (and venture capitalists with an eye for off-world enterprises) that will be most interested in these findings, lending the idea that they are likely funding some of this research.

While this may sound absurd, it's perhaps worth asking: How much rock do you have to move off the Moon before the Earth starts seeing climatic changes as a result? Any one know of research into this area? Given the blatant denial certain first word countries have evidence in the face of an eroding Ozone layer, let's hope the moon isn't laden with valuable metals, ores and other resources..

Re:Moon Landings

[Don853]

I can take a soil sample in front of my apartment without showing large concentrations of any metals. They didn't look at very large areas of the moon... and while a lot smaller than the Earth, it's still a pretty big place. This gives them a chance to cover much larger areas.

n.b: this is all contingent on the belief that the Lunar landings weren't a conspiracy.

See: http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/tv/foxapollo.html [badastronomy.com]

Re:Moon Dust

[wkearney99]

Go dig a few holes around your town. See if that tells you what the entire Earth is made from. It won't. THINK before posting, idjit.

Re:Valuable metals?

[thefirelane]

Still a better deal than the green pieces of paper not even saying that!

I love gold people... at a fundamental level they don't realize that both paper and gold are completely useless unto themselves, and are only worth what people will pay for it. If you really worry about your well being in an apocalypse, buy canned food and ammmo, because that is all that will be worth anything.