From the moon rocks (the real ones, anyway) that were brought back by various missions, which turned out to be partly material from Earth, our scientists learned that our moon was created when a fast moving space rock knocked off a piece of the Earth and sent it into orbit. Now they think the same process created Mars biggest moon Phobos.
read more
He hints about search for ET life – In his new Insight, astronaut Edgar Mitchell urges Obama to continue the US moon missions and says, “When Obama announced that ‘nobody is more committed to manned space flight, to human space exploration of space than I am,’ I was relieved. I felt the cumulative excitement of every child whose dream is to become an astronaut.” Meanwhile, blast off with your favorite Dreamland hosts on June 25-27 Nashville!
NOTE: This news story, previously published on our old site, will have any links removed.read more
We’ve already found water on the moon and now scientists from India say they’ve found signs of life there as well. The instruments on their first unmanned lunar mission, Chandrayaan-1, picked up signs of carbon, the main building block of life, on parts of the moon’s surface, just before it crashed into the moon’s south pole in November.
Similar observations were made by the Apollo 11 mission in 1969, which brought soil and rock samples back to Earth, where scientists found traces of amino acids (another basic building block of life).
read more
If we’re going to set up a base on the moon to mine Helium 3, it would be nice if there was water there, and it turns out there may be: Recent space probes have spotted dampness on the surface that they think may indicate buried ice near the poles of the moon, areas the Apollo astronauts didn’t visit.
Water can also be turned into a fuel that can be manufactured on the moon and will enable travel back and forth between the earth and its satellite. In BBC News, Jonathan Amos quotes a researcher Professor Taylor as saying, “If it is a little or a lot, it’s easy enough to split into hydrogen and oxygen and then you have rocket fuel.”
read more