Moonrock unearthed

Gaetano Marano — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 00:42:18 GMT

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About the Orion moon missions SAFETY ...and the quantity of moon-rocks they can bring back to earth...

I think that the NASA/ESAS/LockMart Orion's Service Module design has a GIANT mistake built-in!

I explain my opinion in my latest article here: www.gaetanomarano.it/articles/013orionSM.html

The new Orion's SM design is different from Apollo since (now) it can't perform (both) the Lunar Orbit Insertion and Trans Earth Injection with MANY safety and operational problems for the astronauts and moon missions.

The most dangerous issue of this (bad!) choice is that, if the LSAM engines will fail in LOI, the Orion will have not sufficient propellant to enter the lunar orbit or ONLY the propellant for that operation (without the LSAM docked) but NOT for TEI to come back to earth!

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Moonrock unearthed

Ed Pardo, Forest Lake, PA — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 00:46:31 GMT

I'm a little confused on this one. Per current theory the moon is made from earth rock after a planetary impact. How can you distinguish earth rock from the moon from earth rock from the earth? Is the origin not identical?

Moonrock unearthed

Alan Boyle — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 01:49:04 GMT

For what it's worth, Ed, here's more on how lunar meteorites are identified:

http://epsc.wustl.edu/admin/
resources/moon/howdoweknow.html

The distribution of elements in the rock and the way the rock is formed can be analyzed to determine whether the darn thing came from the moon.

I didn't include this information in the posting, but you can read it in the linked news release:

"The main constituents of the rock [are] the mineral pyroxene (brightly colored and mosaicized) and maskelynite (dark dull gray), a material formed when the mineral feldspar is converted to glass by high levels of shock. The mineralogy is typical of a planetary basalt; but the relatively coarse grain size and the presence of maskelynite are unusual for lunar specimens, suggesting this rock represents a time period in the moon's history poorly recorded by other lunar samples."

Hope this helps....

Moonrock unearthed

Thomas Stright, Mount Airy , MD — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 01:52:35 GMT

I'm with Ed on this one, if the moon is made from earth rock, there has to be similarities even after millions of years apart.

Moonrock unearthed

Emilienne — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 02:02:57 GMT

Tell you what,after they lost the original tape of the trip to the moon,how do they prove they been there for sure and why they never went back?? So if they never been there how do they know what kind of rocks the moon has? Well this sounds like another hoaks if you ask me .Have a nice down to earth day.

Moonrock unearthed

Waldo Emerson — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 06:14:23 GMT

This is all wrong. The moon is made of cheese...

Moonrock unearthed

Wade Whitlock, Aberdeen, MD — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 13:26:23 GMT

A footnote to Mr. Marano's comments. L-M got a contract to upgrade Coast Guard cutters and assigned the job to software engineers. Fills me with confidence, it does! The Loughheed (yes, that is how they spelled their name (Scotish), it was anglicized to make it easier for the sales staff) Brothers and Mr. Martin must be doing about 900 RPM!

Ideally, the new spam can will be used to establish the permanent settlement that should have been put there in the 1970's. Perhaps we can build a "fleet" of purpose-built craft to do the transorbital and surface to orbit work on each end. Actually more efficient since they could be optimized for the task.

Maybe I'd be happier if I just kept to reading the Onion, but it does seem to be getting more realistic.
Red Oxygen, hmm? The concept of 900 GIGA Pascals defeats me, diamond anvils or not. There was a theory that Jupiter had a core of metallic hydrogen and diamond a while back. Maybe things would be even more colorful, if we could get lights and a camera in there.

Moonrock unearthed

Jo-ann Jaocbson, Alamo, CA.. — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 18:00:34 GMT

I still do not understand how we know this is from the moon. Could you explain it in lay person's language...and are you sure or is it just postulation?

Moonrock unearthed

jethro bodeen, cranston, RI — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 19:14:23 GMT

we will never really know the composition of the moon. we have bits and pieces. it's like going into a gravel pit in brooklyn and proclaiming the rocks found there are what the earth is composed of. I do in fact believe the moon to be molten at the core. and water is present. a deep excavation needs to be sent to the moon.

Moonrock unearthed

Alan Boyle — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 20:47:14 GMT

This Web page might help explain in more depth this idea that we can tell moonrock from earthrock by doing a chemical analysis:

http://www.permanent.com/l-compos.htm

In fact, you can sometimes determine more exactly where on the moon a particular meteorite came from:

http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=a&id=2341

Moonrock unearthed

John — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 22:00:50 GMT

Ed,

The Moon is indeed a chip off the old block (created by debris an impact of a large asteroid with the Earth). The material that coalesced to become the Moon went through a very rough ride: it reached a very high temperature that drove off volatiles (like water, for example). The Moon had a molten lava ocean, which cooled and hardened to form its anothosite crust. The Earth, meanwhile, had a very different history, plate tectonics, weathering, lots of water. These different histories have led to different chemistries in the rocks of the two bodies.

Moonrock unearthed

Ed Pardo, Forrest Lake, PA — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 19:12:40 GMT

Thank You. John's answer and the articles that you linked make it a whole lot clearer. May I assume that the material from the intruder is also fairly equally mixed on both Earth and Moon as well so that any difference between a piece of the intruder can not be distinguished from an original piece of earth rock?

Moonrock unearthed

Jim Flanigan Bellaire Ohio — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 05:03:19 GMT

I have allways been interested in meteorites and was wondering if there is any place in ohio that would be good to look for them. Thank You Jim

Moonrock unearthed

JC, Fairbanks, AK — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 04:12:14 GMT

Jim Flanigan:

Ice caps and deserts are the best places to find M's because they're bare of vegetation and other things that can hide them, because there are few other rocks lying around, and because geo-processes there tend to expose them. They're found just about everywhere, but very hard to find and identify. I've never found one, and not for lack of trying.... keep looking, well.. down.

ps. metal detectors can find iron-type meteorites...