Moon 2.0: Join the Revolution

[MarkG]

http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/

[Impaler[WrG]]

Google seems to believe we should strip-mine the moon as they can't contain their lust for its 'resources'. Apparently no-one ever tell them that Silicon is the second most abundant element in the EARTHS crust?

Ok enough bashing, overall I think the prize structure sounds well though out, giving a prize to the first and second teams is smart as a traditional single prize system discourages anyone who's not a front runner (hint hint Republican Primaries). The water finding bonus is excellent but the artifact finding bit is silly and at odds with it because that would require an equatorial landing site (all Apollo missions were within 30 degrees of the Lunar equator). Surviving a lunar night sounds like a decent bonus idea as well.

I'm a major pessimist on our current manned space flight programs and think NASA's money could be spent better by funding these kinds of prizes (I hear its starting to do this on small scale things like designing a glove for a space suit). One last concern is their a time-limit for archiving the prize as their was in the original X-Prize and do they take out an insurance policy to cover the prize?

[Lancer]

Aren't they after that stuff for the fusion reactors...blowtonium or something? Power the world forever with clean energy. That sort of thing. Only found in qty on the moon.

[Impaler[WrG]]

Tritium (though I like your name better), its only therized to exist in micro quantities on the moon vs almost none on Earth and might be a fuel in fusion reactions if we ever develop fusion but can't successfully get Deuterium (plentiful on Earth) to fuse (Tritium fuses at lower temperatures), and even then it would probably be the most expensive form of energy ever invented. The old 'put solar panels in space' thing is about a thousand times more likely then moon based Tritium power.

[Lancer]

They found it in large quantities in the rocks that were brought back by Apollo.

[Lancer]

...which is the reason everyone is heading for the moon. It's the reason Bush declared the US would return to the moon by 2017. The Russians soon after, the Chinese and Japanese following. All staking out moon real estate in the name of energy. There's even at least one private company making noises. This will be moon colonization, not just visits. Of course everyone is after the hydogen now in water form to supply fuel to ship the stuff back to Earth. It's a big deal but I haven't seen much in the news.

[Heraclitus]

Google is trying to become teh lunar empire.

[Lul Thyme]

Originally posted by Impaler[WrG]
Tritium (though I like your name better), its only therized to exist in micro quantities on the moon vs almost none on Earth and might be a fuel in fusion reactions if we ever develop fusion but can't successfully get Deuterium (plentiful on Earth) to fuse (Tritium fuses at lower temperatures), and even then it would probably be the most expensive form of energy ever invented. The old 'put solar panels in space' thing is about a thousand times more likely then moon based Tritium power.

Most recent proposals (for mining the Moon) have focused on Helium-3 rather than Deuterium or Tritium.

[Lancer]

Helium 3! That's the one.

[Whoha]

blowtonium(tritium) is a critical component of the triggering mechanism for thermonuclear weapons.

[Heraclitus]

Let's play global thermonuclear war!

[Lancer]

Word is that Civ V will have Blowtonium.

[Winston]

Some giant object passed in front of the Moon here the other night, completely blocking it out. Several hours passed before it fully re-appeared. There is something crazy going on with that thing, that's for sure.

[snoopy369]

The crazier thing is you're standing on that giant object RIGHT NOW ...

[Winston]

The crazier thing is you're standing on that giant object RIGHT NOW ...

I do admit, I've been a bit behind with the house cleaning chores, but I never imagined it'd become this bad. How embarrassing.