NASA Taking A Second Look At Mercury
After six long years of space travel, NASA’s Messenger probe will finally be able to experience a close encounter with the world known as Mercury.
Although most of the planet has already been mapped, scientists are hoping that Messenger will be able to confirm whether or not the first rock from the Sun harbors water upon its Sun baked surface.
Most intriguing is what Messenger will find when it peers into craters near Mercury’s poles. The day side of Mercury reaches 800 degrees Fahrenheit, but within the shadows of the polar craters, where the Sun never shines, temperatures are thought to be around minus 300 degrees.
That means there could be large deposits of water ice on Mercury. Radar measurements from Earth have already given suggestions of water, but some scientists believe that the deposits could instead be sulfur or silicates, which could produce the same radar results. (New York Times)
If water is confirmed to exist within the shadowy craters of Mercury, it could potentially open up the planet for settlement in the semi-distant future.
While colonists would be insane to venture outside during the Mercurian day, they would be able to explore the surface during the night without fear of being irradiated thanks to the planet’s magnetic field.
Although the existence of water ice would not raise Mercury’s profile as a world humanity would need to conquer (unless of course a massive amount of metals and minerals are discovered upon the surface), it would help make the world a lot easier to inhabit for future settlers.
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NASA Gives Us 600 Million Reasons To Revisit The Moon
Mini-SAR map of the Circular Polarization Ratio (CPR) of the north pole of the Moon. Fresh, “normal” craters (red circles) show high values of CPR inside and outside their rims. This is consistent with the distribution of rocks and ejected blocks around fresh impact features, indicating that the high CPR here is surface scattering. The “anomalous” craters (green circles) have high CPR within, but not outside their rims.
After discovering water on the Moon (thanks in part to India’s satellite), it looks like scientists have discovered large quantities of ice water in the lunar north pole.
Using data from a NASA radar that flew aboard India’s Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, scientists have detected ice deposits near the moon’s north pole. NASA’s Mini-SAR instrument, a lightweight, synthetic aperture radar, found more than 40 small craters with water ice. The craters range in size from 1 to 9 miles (2 to15 km) in diameter. Although the total amount of ice depends on its thickness in each crater, it’s estimated there could be at least 1.3 trillion pounds (600 million metric tons) of water ice. [...]
Numerous craters near the poles of the Moon have interiors that are in permanent sun shadow. These areas are very cold and water ice is stable there essentially indefinitely. Fresh craters show high degrees of surface roughness (high CPR) both inside and outside the crater rim, caused by sharp rocks and block fields that are distributed over the entire crater area. However, Mini-SAR has found craters near the north pole that have high CPR inside, but not outside their rims. This relation suggests that the high CPR is not caused by roughness, but by some material that is restricted within the interiors of these craters. We interpret this relation as consistent with water ice present in these craters. The ice must be relatively pure and at least a couple of meters thick to give this signature. (NASA)
Although it was known for quite some time that the Moon did possess large quantities of water near the north pole, it was unclear as to how much until now.
The large amount of water ice should make it relatively easy for astronauts to establish outposts upon the lunar surface without heavily depending on Earth for water and supplies.
Future settlers can also use the water to make rocket fuel, which will help humanity in their quest to conquer our star system.
Despite the fact that Congress still debating over how we will get to the Moon (or rather whether partnering with the private sector is a good idea), it’s only a matter of time before humanity revisits and settles upon Earth’s nearest neighbor.
(via Universe Today)
Read More3 Different Flavors Of Lunar Water?
(Image Credit: Unknown)
Ever since we discovered water on the Moon, scientists have been trying to figure out how much water is upon the lunar surface, and whether or not there would be enough to sustain not only colonists but perhaps a few rockets as well.
Now it looks like there may be “3 different flavors” of lunar water, which could help decide where future moon bases are established.
(Physorg.com) ”If you converted those craters’ water into rocket fuel, you’d have enough fuel to launch the equivalent of one space shuttle per day for more than 2000 years. But our observations are just a part of an even more tantalizing story about what’s going on up on the Moon.” [...]
“So far we’ve found three types of moonwater,” says Spudis. “We have Mini-SAR’s thick lenses of nearly pure crater ice, LCROSS’s fluffy mix of ice crystals and dirt, and M-cube’s thin layer that comes and goes all across the surface of the Moon.”
Although this still means that most of Luna is still drier than a terrestrial desert, the fact that many craters contain vast amounts of water ice means that future lunar outposts will become a reality in the near future.
While these “oasis craters” may spark debate about lunar property rights and perhaps some tension amongst the first lunar powers, their presence may signal that humanities first home beyond the sky will be upon our celestial next door neighbor.
Read MoreLuna, Luna, Dripping Wet? (Moon Water)
(Image Credit: Image: ISRO / NASA / JHUAPL / LP)
Orbiting approximately 1 light second away from Earth, the Moon (also known as Luna) surprised scientists after water ice was discovered upon its surface.
Recently NASA discovered more ice water upon the Moon, painting a picture that Earth’s nearest neighbor is not as dry as we once thought.
(NASA) Using data from a NASA radar that flew aboard India’s Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, scientists have detected ice deposits near the moon’s north pole. NASA’s Mini-SAR instrument, a lightweight, synthetic aperture radar, found more than 40 small craters with water ice. The craters range in size from 1 to 9 miles (2 to15 km) in diameter. Although the total amount of ice depends on its thickness in each crater, it’s estimated there could be at least 1.3 trillion pounds (600 million metric tons) of water ice.
“The emerging picture from the multiple measurements and resulting data of the instruments on lunar missions indicates that water creation, migration, deposition and retention are occurring on the moon,” said Paul Spudis, principal investigator of the Mini-SAR experiment at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston. “The new discoveries show the moon is an even more interesting and attractive scientific, exploration and operational destination than people had previously thought.” [...]
“After analyzing the data, our science team determined a strong indication of water ice, a finding which will give future missions a new target to further explore and exploit,” said Jason Crusan, program executive for the Mini-RF Program for NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate in Washington.
(Image Credit: USGS / JPL / NASA)
Previously it was assumed that the Moon was extremly dry, and that any water discovered would be heavily mixed with dust, rocks and other chemicals.
Now it seems as if there might be an “abundance” of water upon Luna, which could translate into future colonies upon this barren world.
(NY Times Dr. Spudis, a scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, said he guessed the water ice in the north polar craters might be 90 percent pure. He said the team was currently analyzing data covering the south pole craters. [...]
In addition to the water near the poles, scientists also reported that a very thin layer of water covers much of the lunar surface. Water, it appears, not only exists, but is also moving around. “The moon is working in a way you didn’t expect,” Dr. Spudis said.
If scientists can locate more craters with large volumes of water ice, humanity may witness the first off world settlements being established within the next 20 years!
Whether those colonies are American (via the private sector) or Chinese has yet to be determined, but either way the Moon is establishing itself as the next stop for humanity (a thought that might not please a few Martian fans).
–Posted on my iPhone
Read MoreWater Is Wet–And So Is The Moon?
Update: Image selected from Digital Fortress, original artist (thus far) unknown.
Despite it’s dry appearance, it looks as if Earth’s little brother has some water after all.
After NASA “bombed” the moon (or rather smashed two objects into the surface), the American space agency can now confirm that some parts of Luna are wetter than the Sahara Desert.
(NASA) Preliminary data from NASA’s Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS, indicates the mission successfully uncovered water in a permanently shadowed lunar crater. The discovery opens a new chapter in our understanding of the moon. [...]
Scientists long have speculated about the source of significant quantities of hydrogen that have been observed at the lunar poles. The LCROSS findings are shedding new light on the question with the discovery of water, which could be more widespread and in greater quantity than previously suspected. [...]
“We are ecstatic,” said Anthony Colaprete, LCROSS project scientist and principal investigator at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. “Multiple lines of evidence show water was present in both the high angle vapor plume and the ejecta curtain created by the LCROSS Centaur impact. The concentration and distribution of water and other substances requires further analysis, but it is safe to say Cabeus holds water.”
This is great news for Lunar fans, as it means that we may actually see a lunar colony within our life time.
While NASA had yet to figure out how to efficiently extract and filter Moon water, it’s presence means that NASA will not have to seed Luna with hydrogen tanks (in order to ensure that future colonists had plenty to drink).
– Posted from my iPhone
Read MoreMoon: Oxygen, Oxygen Everywhere, But We’ll Need Hydrogen To Drink
The discovery of water within the lunar soil earlier set off a buzz amongst the space geek community.
While Luna’s revelation inspired dreams of interplanetary conquest, the fact is that the Moon’s soil is far too dry for us to use as a fountain, let alone for watering crop.
Instead of digging through 10 million tons of soil in order to get 10,000 liters of water, it might be easier (and cheaper) to simply ship tanks of hydrogen instead.
Unmanned space craft could help open up the lunar frontier by steadily seeding Luna with thousands upon thousands of hydrogen tanks upon it’s surface.
Since about 40% of the lunar soil is composed of oxygen, future explorers could extract it from the Moon dirt, and then mix it with hydrogen dropped off by previous unmanned rockets.
(Image Credit: Crystal Links- Lunar Mining)
Water can then be heavily filtered and recycled, allowing humanitiy to establish independent lunar outposts without the need of frequent supplies.
As a bonus, future settlers could use the spare hydrogen and oxygen to also create rocket fuel, which could help reduce the cost of missions elsewhere (whether it’s Mars, Ceres or even the moons of Jupiter).
Read MoreThe Moon: Water, Water Everywhere, But None For NASA To Drink
After discovering water upon the Lunar surface, the space community went a buzz with the possibilities.
(Space.com) The discovery of water on the moon announced this week could make our celestial neighbor a more attractive candidate for a future manned mission. [...]
“This makes the moon a more attractive destination to go to,” said University of Colorado astrophysicist Jack Burns, chair of the science committee for the NASA Advisory Council. “It’s a game-changer in the sense of future human exploration to the moon, in that now there is the potential of resources of water that future astronauts could tap so that we don’t have to bring this water from Earth.”
While the discovery of water does make Luna a lot more attractive than what we previously thought, it may not be enough for a lunar colony to become self sustaining (water wise).
(Universe Today) But the message the scientists wanted everyone to take away from today’s press conference is that a combination of water (H2O) and hydroxyl (OH) that resides in upper millimeter of the lunar surface doesn’t actually amount to much. The average amount of water, if extracted, is about a quart (1 liter) of water per ton of surface soil, or about 16 ounces (.5 liters) of water might be present for every 1,000 pounds (450 kg) of surface soil near the moon’s poles. For soil near the equator, only about two tablespoons of water is believed to be present in every 1,000 pounds (450 kg).
Even though it would be in NASA’s interest to scoop up large volumes of lunar soil for in order to create oxygen, it may not be practical to do something similar for water.
If the human body needs approximately 64 ounces of water a day, astronauts would need to dig up four football fields (hat tip: Discovery Magazine) worth of lunar soil in order for one person to adequately survive for one day!
Unless NASA can discover larger supplies of water ice beneath the surface or near the polar regions, then future colonies will probably be importing large volumes of water from our earthen cradle.
Read MoreFact Or Fiction? (Water On The Moon)
It looks like news of the possibility of water on Earth’s little sister Luna is creating a lot of excitement amongst the space geeks community.
NASA is scheduled to release the findings this Thursday, which should either boost the cause for lunar exploration at its most dismal period, or cause a collective yawn throughout the media.
Previous attempts at scanning the Moon for water have revealed the white sphere to be extremely dry and water free.
However it seems as if India’s Chandrayaan-1 lunar satellite (which died a sad death) was able to detect traces of water (or at least hydroxl radicals) which could help future explorers survive on the surface without depending too heavily upon the home world.
If water does exist on the Moon in abundance, it is likely buried many meters beneath its surface, or (in small amounts) within the shadows of craters.
So is there water on the Moon? As far as the public knows, no–but that all may change come Thursday.
Read MoreMars Probably Has Liquid Water (Too Bad Its Very Salty)
With temperatures plunging below -100 degrees (in both Fahrenheit and Celsius), Mars is not exactly known as warm and friendly place to live upon.
While the red planet does boast an abundance of ice, it looks as if scientists have discovered that liquid water can exist upon its surface–in an extremely salty form.
(SpaceRef) Temperature fluctuation in the arctic region of Mars where Phoenix landed and salts in the soil could create pockets of water too salty to freeze in the climate of the landing site, Renno says.
Photos of one of the lander’s legs show droplets that grew during the polar summer. Based on the temperature of the leg and the presence of large amounts of “perchlorate” salts detected in the soil, scientists believe the droplets were most likely salty liquid water and mud that splashed on the spacecraft when it touched down. The lander was guided down by rockets whose exhaust melted the top layer of ice below a thin sheet of soil. [...]
The wet chemistry lab on Phoenix found evidence of perchlorate salts, which likely include magnesium and calcium perchlorate hydrates. These compounds have freezing temperatures of about -90 and -105 Fahrenheit respectively. The temperature at the landing site ranged from approximately -5 to -140 Fahrenheit, with a median temperature around -75 Fahrenheit. Temperatures at the landing site were mostly warmer than this during the first months of the mission.
Perchlorate salts are not exactly healthy for humans, and their presence on Mars comes with a double blessing.
While this means that future colonists may have an easier time storing water (at least in liquid form), it also means that it will have to be heavily filtered if humans (not to mention our animal friends) are to ever drink it.
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Confirmed: Moon Is "As Wet" As A Terrestrian Desert
While this comes to no surprise based on last years analysis, it looks as if Japan’s lunar satellite Selene confirms what many scientists have suspected all along.
(Moon Daily) “The surface can tell us a lot about what’s happening inside the Moon, but until now mapping has been very limited,” C.K Shum, professor of Earth sciences at Ohio State University, said in the February 13 issue of Science.
“For instance, with this new high-resolution map, we can confirm that there is very little water on the Moon today, even deep in the interior. And we can use that information to think about water on other planets, including Mars.” [...]
The hard surface suggests very little water, researchers said. If there were water, even deep within the Moon, the surface would be more flexible than it was shown to be.
Since hauling water from the homeworld would probably increase the cost of a lunar outpost, future settlers may choose to simply import hydrogen from Earth instead (as it is much lighter).
Colonists could “simply” combine the hydrogen with oxygen extracted from lunar rocks, which would enable settlers to quench their thirst (not to mention help create rocket fuel as well).
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Martian North Pole: Water So Pure You Could (Almost) Drink It?
While it has been known that Mars’s north pole contains an abundance of water, it looks as if some French scientists have discovered that water ice located up north may be much purer than we have originally thought.
(Physorg.com) Radar data sent back by the US Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) point to 95 percent purity in this deposit, France’s National Institute of Sciences of the Universe (Insu) said in a press release.
The Martian polar regions are believed to hold the equivalent of two to three million cubic kilometres” (0.47-0.72 million cu. miles) of ice, it said.
Although its fairly obvious that the Martian water would still have to be heavily filtered, this high concentration of water ice does give the red planet some much needed real estate value.
If humanity is ever going to harvest the asteroid belt in the future, they are going to need an abundance of water for not only food and drink, but for fuel as well.
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Mars: Locating Ice Water In All The Right Places (Technology)
When it comes to water, Mars probably holds more than any other terrestrial body (at least as far as safely retrieving goes).
While the red planet does hold an abundance of water beneath its surface (not to mention the north and south poles), locating the ice rich regions may determine how successful a future outpost will be on the crimson world.
Fortunately it looks as if scientists may have found a way to locate areas wealthy in ice water simply by “bouncing” neutrons off of the Martian soil.
(Astrobiology Magazine) Detecting water underground does not require a magical stick. Neutrons reflecting out of the soil can indicate the presence of water or ice. A novel instrument that can detect those neutrons is planned for NASA’s next rover mission to Mars. [...]
“It is like striking a billiard ball with the cue ball,” Boynton said. “If you hit it directly on center, all of the energy of the cue ball (the neutron in this case) will be transferred to the billiard ball (the hydrogen atom).”
The net result is that a neutron is stopped or slowed when colliding with hydrogen. Presumably, most of the hydrogen atoms on a planet surface will be part of a water molecule.
“Water will both thermalize (slow down) and absorb neutrons, so the reflected neutron signal will be higher in thermal (low-energy) neutrons and lower in epithermal (high-energy) neutrons,” Boynton explained.
Dry soil, by contrast, will reflect more high-energy neutrons. This is because it will contain predominantly heavier atoms, which act like bowling balls that barely budge when a cue ball hits them. Neutrons striking iron or silicon atoms, rather than hydrogen atoms, will ricochet with practically the same energy that they started with.
Even though we can use satellites to locate ice water from space, their results are not as accurate (as according to the article their signal can only penetrate one meter below the surface).
If promising regions can be located, NASA (and others) could then send robotic landers to drill through the surface, which will make it easier for future colonists to simply collect and filter the Martian water once they arrive.
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Water, Water Everywhere (But None On Luna To Drink)
After previously hoping to find ice water within the shadowy craters of Luna, it looks as if the Moon harbor less water than most terrestrial deserts.
(New Scientist Space) The Shackleton Crater on the south pole had been a prominent candidate for a future base station, since it contains a ledge on its rim that would have been an ideal landing spot. [...]
A team led by Junichi Haruyama of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency in Kanagawa analysed images of the crater taken on these brighter days. The images were snapped by the spacecraft’s Terrain Camera, which can resolve objects as small as 10 metres across. [...]
But according to Pieters, the most striking feature was what was missing. “If there had been nice, clean ice, we’d have seen brighter reflections from its surface – but none were visible,” she told New Scientist. Instead, the images just revealed dull lunar soil.
Despite this setback, the Moon is still a valuable asset to the Earth/Space economy, as its helium-3 could help power our world (for thousands of years to come), while extracting oxygen from lunar rock may provide explorers with enough air and fuel to conquer the asteroid belt.
While Plaskett crater may hold more hope for us in the future, we should seriously consider the idea of exporting water (en mass) to future lunar colonies, or even importing it from water rich dwarf worlds such as Ceres.
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Martian Desalination Factories: Providing Clean Water And Iron?
Whether or not Mars held oceans on its surface in the past, one thing is clear–there is a lot of water on the red planet. Despite most of it being frozen, future astronauts will probably have to filter the Martian water in order to be able to drink it safely.
Even though Mars has an abundance of water (not to mention soil that may be able to grow Asparagus), the planet lacks major known resources of any kind–especially in the “metal department.”
While some may suggest future colonists scour the crimson world in search of resources (or import them from the asteroid belt), it may be better for future settlers to simply collect from the water they filtrate via desalination factories.
(Globes Online) A study by “Globes” found that that the Ashkelon desalination plant, produces 6,500 cubic meters of fresh water a day, and discharges iron into the Mediterranean as a byproduct. The 100-million cubit meter a year plant is owned by the VID consortium, VID is consortium of IDE Technologies Ltd. and Veolia Water SA. [...]
During the reverse osmosis desalination process, the facility removes iron from the seawater before it its pushed through the desalination membranes that produce fresh water. Ministry of Environmental Protection officials from the Coastal and Marine Division told “Globes” that they were unaware that the Ashkelon facility discharges this iron into the sea, in the form of “red water”, and that they were taken by surprise when they learned about it.
Although Israel’s desalination plants (or factories) will have to be improved in order to reduce (or hopefully eliminate) the iron being fed back into the oceans, these factories may have stumbled upon a unique way for future colonists to extract metals from Martian water.
Since Mars has plenty of rust within its soil, there is a good chance that a large percentage of that has mixed in with its water. While this is no guarantee that humanity would be able to turn “rust into iron,” these desalination factories might be able to extract some iron from the crimson planet’s “water supply.”
(Image Credit: House Renovation Tips)
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So, How Much Water Is On The Moon?
(Hat Tip: Tales of the Heliosphere and the Lunar News Network)
After observing rock samples retrieved from the lunar surface during the Apollo era, scientists have discovered traces of water “embedded” within the little Moon pebbles.
(Wired Science) In a study published today in Nature, researchers led by Brown University geologist Alberto Saal found evidence of water molecules in pebbles retrieved by NASA’s Apollo missions.
The findings point to the existence of water deep beneath the moon’s surface, transforming scientific understanding of our nearest neighbor’s formation and, perhaps, our own. There may also be a more immediately practical application.
“Is there water there? That’s important for lunar missions. People could get the water. They could use the hydrogen for energy,” said Saal.
While the Moon is obviously dry today, many scientists think that if the Moon did hold large reservoirs of water, probably lost most of it in the past, leaving Earth’s little sister parched and dry.
According to Wired, scientists were able to find water at the molecular level, although such news will probably not quench the thirst of any future colonist.
If the Moon does in fact hold large quantities of water, it is probably buried deep underground, or hidden from the Sun’s rays within the shadows of polar craters.
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The (Frozen) Red Planet
Despite the fact that Mars has an abundance of water upon its poles, many scientists were hoping that underground oceans existed beneath its surface.
Unfortunately it seems as if recent scans of the Martian north pole indicate that if Mars does contain underground oceans, they may a much deeper than what we previously expected.
(Space.com) An international team of scientists used the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to probe the north pole of the red planet with radar. The ice cap there goes about 1.2 miles deep (2 km) and is roughly the size of Pakistan at 310,000 square miles large (800,000 square km). [...]
Unexpectedly, the radar scans also revealed the massive weight of the ice cap does not deform any underlying sediment. This implies the crust beneath the cap is strong — more than 180 miles thick (300 km).
To have such a thick crust, “Mars might be colder than we thought,” Phillips told SPACE.com. As a result, any liquid water that might be underground has to be buried even deeper than once speculated. “If one thought that liquid water was 5 kilometers deep (3 miles), it’s now at least 30 percent deeper than that,” he said.
While the planet’s colder side may make it harder to terraform the crimson world, it may convince the first colonists to establish outposts near the north and south Martian poles (instead of searching for “liquid water wells”).
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Filtering Space Water (On The Cheap)
(Hat Tip: IsraGood, Image Credit: Europa.eu)
Whenever we hear about water being cited on Mars or any other planet-moon body, one often imagines future colonists drinking clear crystal fresh water as if it came straight from the tap.
Unfortunately the chances are that water mined from any foreign world will probably be contaminated with dust particles, making it fairly unhealthy to drink. Filtering this space water will become top priority if we are build cities upon other worlds, let alone conduct research on them.
Fortunately it looks as if one companies invention on Earth could enable us to drink water inexpensively off world.
(Israel 21st Century) “Desalination is cheaper than melting ice,” said Mino Negrin, managing director and founder of Nirosoft, which simulated the environment at the Davis Station in its R&D labs.
The company’s self-contained desalination unit provides up to 100,000 liters a day of purified, desalinated water. Its Lego-like portability makes it easy to ship by air. “We can produce drinking water from almost any source – sea water, rivers and lakes, brackish groundwater, estuaries and lagoons,” said Negrin, who hopes to visit the Antarctic Station sometime this year. [...]
Two of the main advantages of the system are that use of chemicals is minimal, and operating costs are low. No wonder Negrin was sought out by Chinese television. China, with a thirsty population of over 1.3 billion, is facing a water crisis. The rollicking economy is a mixed blessing. Water pollution is rampant. Demand keeps rising as cities, agriculture, and industry compete for diminishing supplies. “We are already selling our products in China,” said Negrin, who sees a big market for Nirosoft in China. “Our products are needed to help solve China’s severe water problems.”
While any ice found would obviously have to be melted, this filtration system could help keep costs down for future solar residents.
If Nirosoft’s technology can help provide clean drinking water to a nation of over a billion people, how much more could it benefit a future space colony populating in the hundreds?
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Ice Miners: The Most Profitable Job In The Solar System?
If you could travel to the future and live during the interplanetary space age, what occupation would you choose? Would you risk your life in asteroid mining, or would you consider making your fortune selling pigs?
Could you imagine yourself designing rockets, or would being a space pirate suit your fancy?
While choosing prestigious job may be more fulfilling, if you wanted to make “your zillions,” you may want to place your investments (and skills) towards mining space water.
Our solar system is fortunate enough to be blessed by this precious liquid throughout its “borders.” Water, in the form of ice, can be found from the polar ice caps of Mars to unvisited surface of Pluto’s moon, Charon.
Having water available in virtually every planetary (and dwarf planetary) system (Mercury and Venus excluded) means that humanity will have a much easier time settling the solar system without the need of hauling millions of tons of water with them.
Yet despite the fact that water is abundant throughout our star system, most of this water would probably not be too healthy in a glass, at least for most animals, plants and humans.
Unlike most of the fresh streams that inhabit our globe, space water is often contaminated either by minerals, rocks or even salt. Simply melting these dirty ice cubes down will not guarantee that this water would be safe to drink, at least for complex organisms.
In order to make this water useful for future life, humanity will have to figure out an inexpensive way to filter out the contaminants. Any company (or person) who could find a way to meet this need would probably end up making a fortune selling this to the masses.
Another use of solar water would be that of fuel. Even though it is evident that this vital molecule is composed of two Hydrogen molecules and one Oxygen, it may not be very evident to the general population that hydrogen and oxygen are the basic components for rocket fuel.
While using chemical rockets may not be as appealing towards those living upon deep gravity wells (such as Earth, Mercury and Mars), other colonists living upon the Moon, Ganymede or Callisto may find them to be a cheaper alternative as compared to nuclear rockets.
As humanity begins to expand throughout our solar system, one will probably begin to see off world space hotels begin to take off. While the first hotels on the Moon (and in orbit) may be small and cramped, future hotels on worlds like Mars, Ceres, etc. will probably be wise to imitate Earth’s native climate.
This will ultimately include having not only drinkable water in abundance, but also pools, hot showers and (if they are large enough) mini sized lakes for people to row across. Until terraforming is perfected, such attractions at hotels will potentially draw large groups, who will (ironically) probably be able to afford a trip back to the home planet.
Any ice miner (or company) able to meet the growing demand of water for this industry will probably find themselves with little financial worries in life.
While investing in computer software or asteroid mining industries could also help a future colonists achieve financial success, placing ones money within an ice miner (or ice mining corporation) could enable a fortunate individual to retire young and perhaps invest their money into moving humanity towards conquering the next star system.
Note: Due to lack of time, images will be inserted later on.
Update: Images added.
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Russia, NASA Team Up In Quest For Space Water
The head of both Russia and America’s space agencies signed an agreement to cooperate as they search both the Moon an Mars in the quest for “liquid gold.”
(USA Today) The agreements signed by NASA Administrator Michael Griffin and Russian Space Agency chief Anatoly Perminov deal with putting Russian instruments on board NASA probes that would be sent to the moon and Mars.
“These two projects demonstrate the commitment by our countries to continue to look for opportunities where it’s mutually beneficial to cooperate,” Griffin said. “When these opportunities happen it’s our intent to work together to bring them to fruition.”
This partnership should help out both NASA and Russia, as it will lessen the cost of finding the best locations for a moon base, as any habitation near water is considered prime real estate.
This could also help relieve some of the space war rhetoric, as the last thing humanity needs is a cold war in space.
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Martian South Pole Abundant In Water Ice
(Hat Tip: Universe Today)
When it comes to life giving water, Earth reigns supreme. But outside our home world, it seems as if Earth’s red neighbor Mars may also have an abundance of water frozen at its southern pole.
(MIT News Office) The experiment reveals that the southern Martian polar region is the largest body of frozen water on the planet and the largest, outside of Earth, in the inner solar system, which includes Mars, Earth, Venus and Mercury.
Until now, scientists were puzzled by the observation that a large percentage of the southern polar region surface does not reflect much light, as it would if there were ice on the surface. This study shows that much of the ice is covered in a layer of dust, but it remains unknown why the dust only covers certain areas, Zuber said.
Maria Zuber’s team also discovered that the southern polar cap contains “about 15 percent silicate dust” that is mixed within the ice. In order to survive on Mars, future colonists will have to develop powerful water filters in order to drink melted Martian water.
Note: perhaps Israel could help us out with this.
Update: Adjusted image position, moved credits below image.
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