"One possible problem is that we don't really know what is at the center of the moon. We have guesses, but what if the moon isn't solid and turns out to be hollow inside?"

Omfg somebody shoot that reporter.

spinesheath

Germany8679 Posts

October 09 2009 15:37 GMT

#23

So ridiculous, fearing that the impact could cause any significant changes to the moon's movement...

Yeah, the moon COULD be hollow inside, but since we can calculate the mass of the moon through its speed and distance from the earth as well as the earth's mass, we can conclude that the hull of the supposedly hollow moon has to be extremely dense. Maybe the moon actually is a dusty, giant galactic table tennis ball made of pure gold.

And since we now know that the moon is made of gold and therefore very heavy, we can calculate how much the moon will be accelerated by the impact of the spacecraft (which is probably somewhere around 100 tonnes or less, no idea how fast it is gonna be).
Since they want to watch the impact, we can assume that they won't hit the back of the moon. So it is unlikely that NASA actually plans to throw the moon at the earth, as interesting as that would be. Instead the moon will probably end up falling into the sun. Eternal lunar eclipse ftw!

Nylan

United States795 Posts

October 09 2009 15:40 GMT

#24

On October 10 2009 00:17 Lemonwalrus wrote:
"One possible problem is that we don't really know what is at the center of the moon. We have guesses, but what if the moon isn't solid and turns out to be hollow inside?"

Omfg somebody shoot that reporter.

SCIENCE

okum

France5778 Posts

October 09 2009 15:41 GMT

#25

Science. It works, bitches.

Plus you get to blow stuff up.

konadora

Singapore66355 Posts

October 09 2009 15:43 GMT

#26

GURREN LAGANN

DevAzTaYtA

Oman2005 Posts

October 09 2009 15:44 GMT

#27

Do they have reason to believe there is water up there or is this just a shot in the dark? Seems like a terrible waste of resources if it's the latter. Though I suppose there's always the chance they could find something better than water, like cheese.

b3h47pte

United States1317 Posts

October 09 2009 15:49 GMT

#28

I love all the TTGL references. it's amazing <3
now we just need to find a holographic girl that explodes once destroyed in the middle of the moon ...mmm...

madnessman

United States1581 Posts

October 09 2009 15:51 GMT

#29

OH MY GOD! some people are starting up the LHC! there's gonna be a massive blackhole and we're all going to die!! oh wait. nothing happened.

on the other hand... if they do somehow mess up the moon's orbit we are kinda screwed.

Conquest101

United States1395 Posts

October 09 2009 15:53 GMT

#30

What's worse than the ridiculous nature of the article, are some of the comments on that linked source. Like "OMG WHY DO YOU GOTTA DO STUPID STUFF AMERICA, TRYING TO KILL US ALL??? HATE!!!" (not exact quote =p). And other people just you know, BELIEVING that the moon is hollow or that this experiment would somehow actually shift the moon.

Sigh.

spinesheath

Germany8679 Posts

October 09 2009 15:56 GMT

#31

On October 10 2009 00:51 madnessman wrote:
OH MY GOD! some people are starting up the LHC! there's gonna be a massive blackhole and we're all going to die!! oh wait. nothing happened.

on the other hand... if they do somehow mess up the moon's orbit we are kinda screwed.

The moon is falling into earth anyways. Might still take a while though. And the moon has been hit by much heavier and/or faster objects in the past, such a small impact doesn't matter in the least.

Nylan

United States795 Posts

October 09 2009 16:06 GMT

#32

Yeah, collisions like this happen all the time. We just caused and watched this one up close with sensors, since we actually knew when it was going to happen.

Slow Motion

United States6960 Posts

October 09 2009 16:06 GMT

#33

Why don't they just hire Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck to drill into it?

BloodDrunK

Bangladesh2767 Posts

October 09 2009 16:07 GMT

#34

how on earth are they gonna bomb the moon?the moon's gravity is very little and when the bombs are gonna be dropped they're gonna be floating in space.the bombers could make circles around the dropped bomb by the time it hits the ground.

raiame

United States421 Posts

October 09 2009 16:12 GMT

#35

I immediately thought of the latest Naruto chapter.

A3iL3r0n

United States2196 Posts

October 09 2009 16:15 GMT

#36

On October 10 2009 01:06 Slow Motion wrote:
Why don't they just hire Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck to drill into it?

NASA plans to shoot two Hollywood stars into the moon Friday, in order to find out if the moon contains water. Stage 1 commences at 4:05 PM CST, at which time Ben Affleck will be deployed into rotational orbit around the earth. Stage 2 will involve activating a large jetpack attached to Mr. Affleck's space-suit, which will be controlled remotely by NASA Ground Control, who will pilot him at high-speeds into a pre-selected moon crater. Bruce Willis will be present at Ground Control to observe the events, and will be given a chance to back out if he doesn't like what he sees. When questioned about his commitment to find water on the moon, Mr. Willis was quoted as saying,

"Hey man, I love Ben and I love science, but let's face it: I'm still doing work and Ben hasn't been. I think this is good for Ben."

eMbrace

United States1300 Posts

October 09 2009 16:16 GMT

#37

click on any news website article on this and see how many thousands of comments there are of people worried about the moon and how were wasting money on useless crap -- and how it's obama's fault as well

it's pretty sad how opposed people are to space research.

Lemonwalrus

United States5465 Posts

October 09 2009 16:16 GMT

#38

On October 10 2009 00:56 spinesheath wrote:

Show nested quote +

The moon is falling into earth anyways.

No, the moon is actually slowly getting further and further away from the earth.

Pufftrees

2449 Posts

October 09 2009 16:17 GMT

#39

The L-Cross Mission is pretty interesting, something we were sure the public would enjoy. At my center (NASA AMES) we worked on this Mission extensively, not me in particular because my branch does re-entry physics, and last night we had a giant viewing (430am ftl). I am definitely way to lazy to watch it live, looking forward to seeing all the videos once I get into work.