3 ms·

if there are rocks and gravity, there is water. the gravity crushes the rocks and forces the hydrogen and oxygen out, and it forms water. So basically there is

by delbel 8y ago

if there are rocks and gravity, there is water. the gravity crushes the rocks and forces the hydrogen and oxygen out, and it forms water. So basically there is water everywhere in the universe. The "we found water" meme is just tabloid headlines recycled over and over again, much like "voyager leaves the solar system" every year -- wine is good for you, wine is bad for you, antibiotics are causing resistence, etc, etc. Go look at any Popular Science magazine from the 90s and now, the same damn narratives repeated, rephrased, and re-rinsed.

dredmorbius 8y ago
Given relative elemental frequency in the universe, and propensities to form molecules, water is likely the third most common molecule whhich exists, after molecular hydrogen and oxygen. The second-most prevalent element, helium, doesn't form molecules (to any meaningful extent, if at all). Methane (CH4) likely comes next. https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-most-common-compound-in-our-universe https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-most-common-compound-in-ou...
vertexFarm 8y ago
I'd like to see the math on this electrolysis-via-gravity theory of yours. Usually it takes the likes of a nuclear furnace to squeeze oxygen and hydrogen out of a rock. On airless worlds with less gravity than ours, water near the surface tends to sublimate and float off into the great old void. It's extremely rare to find it in places that are relatively easy to access. Even Earth isn't a great source, because all that atmospheric drag and gravity makes water a pain to loft up and out. This new store of ice on the moon is right on our doorstep. Europa is not on our doorstep. Having it on the moon changes all the plans for future manned missions outside Earth's orbit. With hydrogen and oxygen readily available on the moon--and without nuclear reactors and massive chemical processing plants--it suddenly becomes a complete no-brainer to go over there and start making stores of cryogenic fuel for our more ambitious plans. That is if we ever undertake another ambitious plan. New Horizons was amazing, it really was. But it's nothing like a manned flight. People say robotic exploration is just as good, but the intangible things really matter. They really do. Think of just how much the moonshot in the 60s drove people into STEM and got everyone excited about the future. Look at science fiction then vs. now. It went from utopian and focused outward to heavily dystopian, obsessively focused inward. It's so sad. It's impossible to calculate the value of the inspiration of the moonshot, let alone the advances in technology (solid-state computers anyone?). Just imagine how much of a boost it would give our society to go to Mars. This discovery makes it a lot more closer.

by delbel 8y ago

dredmorbius 8y ago

Given relative elemental frequency in the universe, and propensities to form molecules, water is likely the third most common molecule whhich exists, after molecular hydrogen and oxygen. The second-most prevalent element, helium, doesn't form molecules (to any meaningful extent, if at all). Methane (CH4) likely comes next. https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-most-common-compound-in-our-universe https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-most-common-compound-in-ou...

vertexFarm 8y ago

I'd like to see the math on this electrolysis-via-gravity theory of yours. Usually it takes the likes of a nuclear furnace to squeeze oxygen and hydrogen out of a rock. On airless worlds with less gravity than ours, water near the surface tends to sublimate and float off into the great old void. It's extremely rare to find it in places that are relatively easy to access. Even Earth isn't a great source, because all that atmospheric drag and gravity makes water a pain to loft up and out. This new store of ice on the moon is right on our doorstep. Europa is not on our doorstep. Having it on the moon changes all the plans for future manned missions outside Earth's orbit. With hydrogen and oxygen readily available on the moon--and without nuclear reactors and massive chemical processing plants--it suddenly becomes a complete no-brainer to go over there and start making stores of cryogenic fuel for our more ambitious plans. That is if we ever undertake another ambitious plan. New Horizons was amazing, it really was. But it's nothing like a manned flight. People say robotic exploration is just as good, but the intangible things really matter. They really do. Think of just how much the moonshot in the 60s drove people into STEM and got everyone excited about the future. Look at science fiction then vs. now. It went from utopian and focused outward to heavily dystopian, obsessively focused inward. It's so sad. It's impossible to calculate the value of the inspiration of the moonshot, let alone the advances in technology (solid-state computers anyone?). Just imagine how much of a boost it would give our society to go to Mars. This discovery makes it a lot more closer.