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This is way cooler than I expected: was interested in investigating the changes in surface weathering as the moon passes through Earth's magnetotail, an area t
by DoreenMichele 3y ago
This is way cooler than I expected:
was interested in investigating the changes in surface weathering as the moon passes through Earth's magnetotail, an area that almost completely shields the moon from solar wind but not the Sun's light photons.
We already know there is water on the moon. That's not really "news" at this point.
I wonder if the polar regions are rusting in part because they are relatively temperate. They hover around the freezing point of water. With an oxygen tank and quality sleeping bag, you could practically camp there.
Unlike, say, the Moon's equatorial region, which experiences extreme temperature swings, or anyplace on Mars which is insanely cold in spite of having an atmosphere.
- ConcernedCoder 3y agoI see your point as higher temps == higher reaction energy levels, so I agree this is probably the case, but your sleeping bag had better be pressurized...
- dtgriscom 3y agoInteresting. With no air conduction, a down sleeping bag would have excellent insulation, as long as the down doesn't rely on some aspect of air in order to loft. I'll have to try it sometime. ("Hello, Elon?")
- d1sxeyes 3y agoAs I understand, the reason down is such an effective insulator is that it traps small pockets of air and it is difficult for warmer or cooler air to circulate through because of that. As a result, if your down blanket were not contained in an airtight textile it would not provide much insulation. And if you did have an airtight textile, probably it wouldn’t matter if it was filled with down or anything else, the insulating effect would be more or less the same.
- kortex 3y agoThe down would be separated by vacuum, which is even better of an insulator than air pockets. It's just that vacuum flasks are harder to manufacturer than bags of fluff. On the moon or in space you could get by with layers of reflective foil with a gap.
- mcpackieh 3y ago> reflective foil E.g. an aptly named space blanket. A friend once gave me a small sample of thermal insulation used for a satellite he worked on. It was several layers of metallised plastic (e.g. space blanket) with a very fine plastic mesh, almost like fine fishing net, in between those mylar layers to create small gaps between the metallised layers. I think it had about 10 layers like this.
- DoreenMichele 3y ago("Hello, Elon?") OMG. Don't be ridiculous. This is HN. Elon's not going to the moon. He's skipping straight to Mars, so there's no hope you will run into the man while camping out on the moon.
- wild_egg 3y agoI couldn't find anything specifically about the poles but cool to know there are areas of the moon with stable and comfortable temperatures https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2022/lro-lunar-pits-comfortable https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2022/lro-lunar-pits-com...
- PaulHoule 3y agoIf you dug a few meters into most spots on the moon you’d find average temperatures just a little bit below freezing. If you wrapped some ice up and buried it it would be stable for a long time. Sublimation would be a problem but I would not be surprised at all to find underground ice deposits if the right kind of geological trapping structures (as for oil and gas on Earth) existed and somehow the water got there.
- jameshart 3y agoWhen we talk about temperature on the moon though we are talking about surface temperature; you’re not experiencing temperature in the same way you are on earth, surrounded in an envelope of atmosphere at a particular temperature.