Holy Crap! NASA To Blow up the MOON!!!!!

[rcrush]

http://www.siliconvalley.com/ci_12590357

In an unprecedented scientific endeavor — and what may be one of the coolest space missions ever — NASA is preparing to fly a rocket booster into the moon, triggering a six-mile-high explosion that scientists hope will confirm the presence of water.

The four-month mission of the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), which will be directed from NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, is to discover whether water is frozen in the perpetual darkness of craters near the moon's south pole. As a potential source of oxygen for life support and hydrogen for rocket fuel, that water would be a tremendous boost to NASA's plans to restart human exploration of the moon.

But the launch is scheduled for Thursday at Cape Canaveral, Fla. It was delayed a day to allow repairs to the space shuttle.

http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/06/16/1556254/NASA...

"NASA is preparing to launch the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, which will fly a Centaur rocket booster into the moon, triggering a six-mile-high explosion that scientists hope will confirm whether water is frozen in the perpetual darkness of craters near the moon's south pole. If the spacecraft launches on schedule at 12:51 p.m. Wednesday, it will hit the moon in the early morning hours of October 8 after an 86-day Lunar Gravity-Assist, Lunar Return Orbit that will allow the spacecraft time to complete its two-month commissioning phase and conduct nearly a month of science data collection of polar crater measurements before colliding with the moon just 10 minutes behind the Centaur."

[trotsky]

1. Oh crap, now the crazy astrology lady is gonna moan again. n/t

[Renew Deal]

19. Intergalactic lunar rape jokes are not funny.

[Name removed]

23. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[dorkulon]

Can't...stop...laughing.....

I'll have to join Letterman's support group.

[SidDithers]

32. Oh my...

Sid

[trotsky]

41. I think I just peed. n/t

[woo me with science]

84. LOLOL! nt

[Kalyke]

140. Your user name makes this thread even more hilarious!

[proteus_lives]

125. Great!

:lol:

[Name removed]

143. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[DaveinJapan]

115. TOO funny. :p n/t

[Solomon]

119. Stop laughing. They're getting ready to blow up the

crystal dome that encircles the moon. The dome proves alien technology (or that we were up there eons ago).

See the book "Dark Mission" if you think I'm making this up.

[PVnRT]

39. The moon is, like, ALIVE man

It's like a whole CIRCLE of livingness and and lightitude.

[Codeine]

40. This is gonna fuck up SOOO many periods. nt

[trotsky]

42. HAHAHAHAHAH

[rcrush]

43. Think of the Werewolves!

[dorkulon]

81. self-delete

wrong place.

[name not needed]

107. NASA: 50,000 PMS related homicides expected

[Dr. Strange]

47. It's a simple question:

If the moon were made of cheese, would you blow it up to determine if there is water under the surface?

[PVnRT]

53. If the moon were made of cheese, I'd have eaten it long ago (n/t)

[dorkulon]

83. What kind of cheese?

If it's Velveeta, nuke the fucker. Roquefort? Give me a baguette and step back.

[SpiralHawk]

105. "Moan' - Ronald Reagan's Dead Republicon Astrologer*

* Courageously channeled by the intrepid SpiralHawk from the vast netherworld of Republicon occultism.

[GoesTo11]

2. Wait a second

If there is water, there's not that much of it. This undisturbed water might contain useful scientific information about the origins of the solar system, so firing a fuel-laden rocket into it has that downside. Also, if this is hoped to someday serve as drinking water, etc., rocket fuel has some really nasty compounds in it and this could make the water unsuitable for human use. Any ideas for a more prudent way to check out the situation?

[drm604]

15. You may have a point about disturbing pristene water

because of the loss of scientific information.

I'm not so sure that contamination is an issue as far as future usability is concerned. This water may be from come comets, asteroids, etc. and may already be contaminated with nasty organic compounds and other stuff, so it would probably have to go through a purification process before human consumption anyway.

[Codeine]

16. It's not a "fuel-laden rocket."

The probe will be the spent final stage of the launch vehicle. All the fuel will have burned off in the process of leaving Earth. The lunar orbiter basically crash-lands that big chunk of metal into the lunar surface to throw up a plume of impact ejecta for analysis.

And any imaginable scenario for using lunar water deposits for drinking involves all sorts of purification anyway, so the remote possibility of some small portion of it being tainted is pretty immaterial.

[ddiver]

27. There's a reason this isn't in the science forum.

[madeline_con]

154. ROFLMAO! I should forward this to the Center Director.

[Subdivisions]

29. Deep Impact:

http://www.space.com/deepimpact /



Along those lines.

I wonder why the sudden push to the moon.

[Why Syzygy]

126. It must be Planet X.

They're really going to shoot it down. The Moon is cover.

[madeline_con]

155. Lunacy. n/t

[snooper2]

30. comets contain the orgins of the solar system

and if we actually EVER used the moon for drinking water, by then I'm sure we would have the technology to clean it....

[Robb]

3. Thank god, finally

That glowy fucker's been keeping me awake.

[chill_wind]

9. LOL! :-)

[ControlledDemolition]

167. The guy in the pic might actually be able to survive the Van-Allen-radiation belt! n/t

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

4. NASA lives in a space helmet of sexism.

[ControlledDemolition]

168. Nazism! Dorner, von Braun... n/t

[rcrush]

5. They were going to do this in the 50's with Nukes.

http://www.space.com/news/spacehistory/nuke_moon_000514...

The U.S. Air Force developed a top-secret Cold War plan to detonate a nuclear bomb on the moon in the 1950s.

In a letter to the journal Nature, physicist Leonard Reiffel, leader of the effort which was called Project A 119, wrote that the Air Force wanted to explore the effects of exploding a nuclear bomb on the moons face. The Air Force wanted the explosion to be clearly visible from Earth.

Reiffel wrote that the military leaders did not seem concerned with the loss to science that would have resulted from a large atomic explosion on the moons surface. Let alone what it may have done to the appearance of the "man in the moon."

Part of the team researching the hypothetical explosion was a young Carl Sagan, who was recruited to study how the mushroom cloud would expand and collapse under the moons lighter gravity. Sagan proposed that a legitimate scientific purpose for the explosion could have been examining the cloud for possible organic material.

[Rex]

6. Is this happening in 2012?

One wonders.

[rcrush]

8. They were going to launch on Thursday.

But had to delay for repairs

[Rex]

74. Well then delays for a few years and

watch out! Lucifer's Hammer, 2012, be there or be square!

[madeline_con]

152. But the repairs were on the Shuttle. Then, they scrubbed the shuttle launch

because of lightning during the hydrogen fueling. So now, both are late getting off the ground.

[nxylas]

13. It should have happened in 1999

Commander Koenig had the Eagles all ready to launch. Yes, I'm a nerd.

[shadowknows69]

22. Space 1999 represent!!! Nerds unite!

[myrna minx]

49. I was so bummed when Copps sold out of Space 1999 lunch boxes.

That I can still feel the disappointment 30 odd years later.

[nxylas]

52. I was wondering if anyone would get the reference

I thought I was the only person who even remembered Space: 1999 (colon added for maximum nerdiness).

[myrna minx]

56. We nerds are *everywhere*

[cascadiance]

68. Ah... Launch interceptors!

Oh wait, that was the earlier UFO series, not Space: 1999



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LE-aBcfs854&feature=rela...


Space: 1999 was a great series and also started the trends towards colored hair!





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAt60HrSkzI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DF9nDJZrdA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqdMmH7UE_s

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/yt-3Utgq0yhk9Y/space_1999... /

BTW, if you're looking for old Space: 1999 souvenirs, try Monsters in Motion... Here's a search page that might be helpful...

http://www.monstersinmotion.com/catalog/advanced_search...

[myrna minx]

77. Thanks for the links.

I think I'll have to get that lunch box one day. I'll put it next to my Battlestar Galactica one that I got that a couple of years later.

[Franzia]

117. I still have my Space: 1999 lunch box.

Along with my brother's Black Hole lunch box.

Still in pretty good shape.

[nxylas]

138. I used to have a toy Eagle

Though for some reason, the pointy cockpit bit was painted metallic green instead of white.

[myrna minx]

148. Lucky duck on both counts!

I did see the Black Hole in the theater (along with everyone else our age!)

[moggie]

128. ...

[LeftHander]

7. Poor Moon....

[BuyingThyme]

10. The moonbats aren't gonna like this.

[Initech]

87. Rapture ready index: +50000!

[ControlledDemolition]

151. Destroying the lack of evidence that they went to the moon in the first place, perhaps? n/t

[Hekate]

11. "When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail." How stupid is this, to blow up...

... the Moon? or any planet? I mean

Hekate

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

14. It's not actually going to blow up the moon, btw.

Oh, and the moon is not actually a planet.

[Codeine]

20. They arent blowing anything up. Good grief.

We're gonna drop a chunk of metal onto the surface and analyze what it kicks up.

Christ.

[Posteritatis]

25. The reactions are reminding me of Pluto's "demotion"

I was talking to a few people eyes-deep in astrology who thought that instead of recategorizing the thing, NASA had actually destroyed Pluto physically.

[Warren DeMontague]

46. I destroy the moon every time I stop looking at it.

Quantum Physics has PROVED it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Warren DeMontague]

38. You don't really think they're blowing up the moon, do you?

"why, to do that it would take a thousand ships with more firepower than I've ever---"

[NeedleCast]

67. Wow, the lack of scientific understanding here can just be amazing

GIVE ME ALL YOUR MONEY OR I WILL BLOW UP THE MOON! SRS!

[Recursion]

71. He that breaks a thing to see how it is made...

...has left the path of wisdom.

[truedelphi]

80. Some applause is heard in these quarters

For a comment I enjoyed. Am copying to my "quotes" journal.

[Recursion]

82. It's Tolkien

I can't remember exactly where but I'm pretty sure Gandalf said it to Saruman.

[MicaelS]

114. Really?

Scientists have been doing exactly that for decades with particle accelerators. Think they have "lost their wisdom"?

[Why Syzygy]

116. Faulty assumption. nt

[Recursion]

124. Relax, man. It's Gandalf

It's an important thing to at least have in the back of your mind when you're designing an experiment, though.

[omega minimo]

141. It's the difference

b/w parts and systems

[Hekate]

149. Indeed. You put it much more felicitously than I ...

Also, she who posts in haste repents at leisure.

Hekate

[woo me with science]

88. Please tell me this isn't a serious post.

Fund education now, please.

[Hekate]

112. I DO NOT THINK THE MOON IS GOING TO BE BLOWN UP IN A CLOUD OF GREEN CHEESE

I simply think it may be counterproductive to do what they are planning to do. For a variety of reasons.

Hekate

[Codeine]

118. Give us just one this "variety of reasons." nt

[Codeine]

170. Yeah, I pretty much figured you'd have nothing to share. nt

[Bucky]

147. "i'm no NAIL so u cn stfu, Nasa an u earth NOOBs" -- Chaz Grassley

[sailor65]

12. Somebody needs to make them watch

"The Time Machine," the 2002 remake with Guy Pierce. Maybe they'll decide not to screw with the moon?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

17. Oh, yeah, amazing movie. Very educational.

I had no idea the moon was two dimensional.

[Initech]

89. Or just this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Csj7vMKy4EI

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

139. My first thought.

[martymar64]

160. Endorsed by President Guy Whitey Corngood

[Posteritatis]

18. Protect us from hyperbolic overreactions. (nt)

[Codeine]

21. Too late.

The moonbats have beaten you here.

[Posteritatis]

24. Retroactively protect us from hyperbolic overreactions! (nt)

[omega minimo]

142. Who are you

praying to?

[myrna minx]

26. Yay! Free cheese from the sky makes this Wisconsin girl's dream come true. n/t

[pipi_k]

57. Mine too..I hope

it tastes better than that shit in the can.

[myrna minx]

90. It better be a like fantastic roquefort or brie.

I'd fall to pieces if Moon cheese was the equivalent of velveeta.

[rateyes]

97. Wow. Don't you know your science? It's not roquefort, brie or Velveeta..

The cheese of which the moon is made is GREEN.

[pipi_k]

120. So what's green cheese....

Bleu cheese before it ripens?

[bananas]

28. Alexander Abian, internet legend

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Abian

Alexander Abian (January 1, 1923 – July 1999) was an American mathematician who taught for many years at Iowa State University but who became an Internet legend for his incessant and frequently bizarre posts to various Usenet newsgroups.

<snip>

Abian gained a degree of international notoriety for his claim that blowing up the Moon would solve virtually every problem of human existence. He made this claim in 1991 in a campus newspaper.<1> Stating that a moonless Earth wouldn't wobble, eliminating both the seasons and its associated events like heat waves, snowstorms and hurricanes. Refutations were given toward that idea by NASA saying that part of the exploded Moon would come back as a meteorite impacting the Earth and causing sufficient damage to extinguish all life, while restoring the seasons in the process. Just before he died, Abian said that "Those critics who say 'Dismiss Abian's ideas' are very close to those who dismissed Galileo".<2> This claim and others, made in thousands of UseNet posts during the last portion of his life, gained Abian mention (not entirely favorable) and even interviews in such publications as Omni, People, and The Wall Street Journal.<3>

<snip>

[3waygeek]

110. I knew the good Professor...

I was a physics/math/computer engineering major at ISU during the 80s. I never had him as an instructor, but was in several math classes with his daughter, a brilliant and lovely young woman.

[Blue_Tires]

31. the Mooninites are gonna fuck NASA's shit up!

[GoddessOfGuinness]

33. Does this mean the Man in the Moon is going to have a moustache?

[GoneOffShore]

58. If he does, rides will be available I'm sure.

I'm really really sorry for that.

I probably shouldn't have posted it.

The purity police are knocking at my door right now.

Self

[GoddessOfGuinness]

64. Thank you, David Letterman.

[Warren DeMontague]

34. We must quickly construct a Space Dworkin to stop this interplanetary phallus problem. nt

[DS1]

35. It was always lookin at us wrong anyway, needs a smack upside the head

[dorkulon]

36. I wish they'd write "CHA" on it in huge letters.

[MyUserNameIsBroken]

51. Don't forget the bite...n/t

[redqueen]

103. ...

[rcrush]

37. They should make a smiley face pattern on the moon.

Or sell ad space to beer companies.

[Nihil]

137. Arthur C. Clarke: "Watch this space"

Please let this be one aspect of science fiction that *doesn't* come true!

[uppityperson]

44. Probably funded by Big Pharma

[Codeine]

45. Fuckin' Lunesta, I'm willing to bet. nt

[NeedleCast]

70. +1

[dorkulon]

171. ...

[rcrush]

48. I bet we finally find that underground Nazi base thats been there since the 40's.

[Raskolnik]

50. America can, should, must, and will blow up the moon.

When I was a boy, blowing up the moon was just a beautiful dream. Now its science fact.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Csj7vMKy4EI

[eppur_se_muova]

95. "Since the dawn of time, Man has yearned to destroy the ..."

oh, wait, that was the Sun.

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

101. You don't mess around with God's America!

You beat to posting the first thing that came to mind when I saw this thread.
Bob and david really captured the feel of the U.S. under Bush - even though the sketch was done in 1996.

[ControlledDemolition]

153. Damn right! Tides piss me off!!! n/t

[ProdigalJunkMail]

54. to all the comedians on this thread... thank you n/t

[pipi_k]

55. So if they blow up the moon, does that mean

we'll have to give songs a different title?


"Blue chunk of rock in the sky"

"Small round dustball River"


"Fly me to the leftover crater floating in the sky"


"Dark side of the shiny little sandball revolving around the earth every 28 days"


Just think of the trouble it'll be to change the lyrics!

[ChickMagic]

60. Don't forget Blew Moon!

[dorkulon]

91. We'll have bigger probs than that--like the earth rolling off its axis

you know, suddenly Ecuador being the north pole, stuff like that. I think we should all panic now.

[pipi_k]

121. I'm sort of looking forward to it...

I'm in the Hilltowns of Western Mass...it would be nice to have oceanfront property

[rateyes]

98. By the light of the silvery dust.

[ControlledDemolition]

156. Change the context to dropping one's pants and one's underpants! n/t

[whistler162]

59. Phew... at least we didn't establish a base on there in 1999!

[Freddie Stubbs]

61. Prince Zordar and the Comet Empire strike again!

[Echo In Light]

62. Wow...no Mr Show fans here?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Csj7vMKy4EI

[Raskolnik]

65. Please refer to post #50.

And don't mess around...with God's America.

[Echo In Light]

79. LOL indeed

[gmoney]

69. That's what I was thinking...

Brilliant stuff... "we're earthlings, let's blow up earth things"

[Poll_Blind]

164. Here! heh heh! n/t

PB

[salguine]

63. Too late...it's been done already:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Csj7vMKy4EI

[krispos42]

66. Cool, we'll have a ring system like Saturn!

[Fuzz]

72. The moon people will shoot it down. Don't worry.

[whistler162]

102. Nah it will problably hit him right in the eye!

[rudy23]

73. Why?

Why are we blowing up the moon?

[Posteritatis]

96. We aren't

As for why they're planning the experiment, you could always read past the subject line of the OP.

[Raskolnik]

106. Um, maybe watch this before any more earnest chiding.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Csj7vMKy4EI

[rcrush]

104. Monkey Demands Answers!!!

[flvegan]

75. There must be oil under the surface. That's why we usually bomb places.

[dorkulon]

86. Drill baby drill! nt

[LeftyMom]

134. Only I get to tell him that!

He thinks the fake bun and the glasses are really hawt, dontchaknow.

[progressoid]

76. Oh Paleeeeze. We're not blowing up the moon.

Any idiot knows we can't even get to the moon let alone blow it up.

They'll do a CGI thing in Hollywood and NASA will post it on their website. Meanwhile, all the money for this project will go to some secret CIA/NSA project.

[JVS]

78. This unchivalrous conduct toward the moon is going too far with this!

[Initech]

85. OMG!!! This is Mr. Show come to life!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Csj7vMKy4EI

[jmondine]

92. ... with an Illudium Pew-35 Explosive Space Modulator?

"Oh, that makes me very angry!" (pace, pace,pace)

[cascadiance]

94. You talking to me?...

[tavalon]

173. Jason, don't you ever just get tired of getting duzys?

[HopeHoops]

93. "I don't know lad. Its like no cheese I've ever tasted before."

- Wallace.

[Just Saying]

99. Would you miss it?

Sorry, lame Austin Powers reference.

[TrogL]

100. "...for no adequately explained reason"?

[jmowreader]

108. Out of Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulators, I see...

The moon's not blocking our view of Venus, though, so it's okay.

[Sanity Claws]

109. I wonder how this will affect my astrological chart

[Deja Q]

111. That's not blood, that's God's semen.

[Duer 157099]

113. Boy I hope they know what they're doing

The moon is so incredibly unbelievably important to our planet, and the balance might be really delicate.

[cascadiance]

130. Maybe someone/thing will guide us at the right time...

[ThoughtCriminal]

122. Only way to stop the "The Alan Parsons Project"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Duj2oZIC8U

[NJGeek]

123. America can, should, and will blow up the moon.

http://www.milkandcookies.com/link/83458/detail/

[4lbs]

127. Those same turkeys sent a probe smashing into a comet !!!!!

They must be stopped!

[Ghost in the Machine]

129. The Aliens are gonna be pissed, man... get ready for intergalactic war

"A certain professor, who wished to remain anonymous, was
engaged in a discussion with Neil Armstrong during a NASA
symposium.


Professor: What REALLY happened out there with Apollo 11?



Armstrong: It was incredible, of course we had always
known there was a possibility, the fact is,
we were warned off!(by the Aliens). There was
never any question then of a space station or a
moon city.



Professor: How do you mean "warned off"?



Armstrong: I can't go into details, except to say that
their ships were far superior to ours both in
size and technology - Boy, were they
big!...and menacing!
No, there is no question of a space station.



Professor: But NASA had other missions after Apollo 11?



Armstrong: Naturally - NASA was committed at that time,
and couldn't risk panic on Earth. But it really
was a quick scoop and back again.


Armstrong confirmed that the story was true but refused to
go into further detail, beyond admitting that the CIA was behind
the cover-up."

http://www.sacred-texts.com/ufo/moonbase.htm

[DCKit]

131. It's really gonna suck if the moon just pops like a giant beach ball....

and flies off into space.

[ControlledDemolition]

157. The Soviets recorded the moon's response to a previous impact... "It rang like a bell!". n/t

[Joanne98]

132. How much is this going to cost?

[and-justice-for-all]

133. The aliens living on the dark side of the moon are going to be pissed..nt

[LeftyMom]

135. This thread needs more input from teh Indigo Children. Somebody please xpost to Astrology

so they can bring the lulz. Thanks!

[PfcHammer]

136. I'l say it. White man's disease.

Must.break.everything.

[Codeine]

145. Wow. You're racist AND stupid!

Nothing is being broken. We're dropping a chunk of metal into the dust. No harm will come to the moon.

[PfcHammer]

158. Wow. You're hypersensitive AND humorless AND arrogant!

[omega minimo]

159. To see how it works.

That's why they think everything is lifeless.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

161. So you're saying that black people are ignorant and incurious.

[Regret My New Name]

162. Wow. You're racist AND stupid!

balance.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

163. Hey, don't get mad at me.

I wasn't the one claiming that science was limited to white people.

[Regret My New Name]

165. ;)

[Bill McBlueState]

144. k/r

This thread is hilarious.

[Bucky]

146. Ha-ha! Fuck you, moon! Who's more powerful now, huh? Who's the fuckin man now?

Earth - 1
Moon - zilch.

[RedCloud]

150. Get that moon the hell out of here. Damn light. Can't sleep at night.

So our planet will wobble crazily and we will all die very quickly, but isn't that worth one night's sleep?

[Uncle Joe]

166. Times are tight, we need the cheese. n/t

[sakabatou]

169. Apparently AMV Hell predicted the future

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWr72l22NV4

[DatManFromNawlins]

172. I AM GONNA HOLD OUT MUH PIZZA CRUSTS ON WEDNESDAY FOR DA WELL AGED CHEESE!

Gimme some of dat 6 billion year old gouda, man!