4 ms·

The surface of the moon is just a bunch of pockmarks left over from a millennia of collisions with other space objects. Is that really something worthy of prese

The surface of the moon is just a bunch of pockmarks left over from a millennia of collisions with other space objects. Is that really something worthy of preservation?

colanderman 5y ago
The moon and its near-side features are the single visual landmark shared by literally all of humanity which has ever existed. Many would call it sacred. We preserve all sorts of rocks on Earth which are similarly majestic/significant/sacred, despite being formed by random geological processes. Why not the visual façade of the moon?
- scoopertrooper 5y ago
  The lunar surface is constantly changing due to collisions. So, what are we preserving exactly? https://www.space.com/34372-new-moon-craters-appearing-faster-than-thought.html https://www.space.com/34372-new-moon-craters-appearing-faste...
  - colanderman 5y ago
    Trees constantly change. Why preserve a forest? (Not to mention, OP was talking about large obscuring dust clouds. Not pockmarks.)
    - scoopertrooper 5y ago
      Nobody is talking about chopping down the moon. I think OP doesn't realise how big the moon is. Those asteroid impacts kick up massive plumes of smoke, but we don't really notice it because the Moon is pretty freakin big.
      - doodlebugging 5y ago
        OP here. Actually not OP, just top of this thread. I'm actually a geophysicist. I do have a pretty good idea not only of how large the moon is, but of where it is in relation to earth, it's age, common rock types found there, origin theories, its effect on earth, its cultural usage down through time, etc. In my own work I have used knowledge of tidal effects to help me correct seismic data to optimize subsurface resolution so that companies could determine whether there was a resource there that could be economically exploited. I appreciate you taking the time to read my original post and to comment. This is exactly the sort of discussion I figured it would generate.
- doodlebugging 5y ago
  This is the question we have to ask ourselves as a people. What value do we place on things that we have all enjoyed and marveled at? Which one or which group of us gets to speak for all of us?
doodlebugging 5y ago
I think that is the question that we have to ask ourselves. Thanks for getting the ball rolling.

The surface of the moon is just a bunch of pockmarks left over from a millennia of collisions with other space objects. Is that really something worthy of preservation?

colanderman 5y ago

The moon and its near-side features are the single visual landmark shared by literally all of humanity which has ever existed. Many would call it sacred. We preserve all sorts of rocks on Earth which are similarly majestic/significant/sacred, despite being formed by random geological processes. Why not the visual façade of the moon?

scoopertrooper 5y ago
The lunar surface is constantly changing due to collisions. So, what are we preserving exactly? https://www.space.com/34372-new-moon-craters-appearing-faster-than-thought.html https://www.space.com/34372-new-moon-craters-appearing-faste...
- colanderman 5y ago
  Trees constantly change. Why preserve a forest? (Not to mention, OP was talking about large obscuring dust clouds. Not pockmarks.)
  - scoopertrooper 5y ago
    Nobody is talking about chopping down the moon. I think OP doesn't realise how big the moon is. Those asteroid impacts kick up massive plumes of smoke, but we don't really notice it because the Moon is pretty freakin big.
    - doodlebugging 5y ago
      OP here. Actually not OP, just top of this thread. I'm actually a geophysicist. I do have a pretty good idea not only of how large the moon is, but of where it is in relation to earth, it's age, common rock types found there, origin theories, its effect on earth, its cultural usage down through time, etc. In my own work I have used knowledge of tidal effects to help me correct seismic data to optimize subsurface resolution so that companies could determine whether there was a resource there that could be economically exploited. I appreciate you taking the time to read my original post and to comment. This is exactly the sort of discussion I figured it would generate.
doodlebugging 5y ago
This is the question we have to ask ourselves as a people. What value do we place on things that we have all enjoyed and marveled at? Which one or which group of us gets to speak for all of us?

doodlebugging 5y ago

I think that is the question that we have to ask ourselves. Thanks for getting the ball rolling.