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in the initial race to the moon it was widely speculated that the moon was covered in a deep layer of ultrafine dust, and any spacecraft landing on it would be
by Tloewald 12y ago
in the initial race to the moon it was widely speculated that the moon was covered in a deep layer of ultrafine dust, and any spacecraft landing on it would be liable to sink. Arthur C. Clarke's novel "A Fall of Moondust" was based on this thinking.
It seems astronomers have a bias towards assuming dust will cover stuff. Perhaps this says something about their office space.
- hnal943 12y agoI thought they calculated the amount of dust that based on the current rate dust accumulation and extrapolating based on the believed age of the universe. It's a little surprising we have not corrected that thought since the moon landing.
- Tloewald 12y agoWho's to know why they were wrong — it's just amusing to see the same error come up again. I prefer the theory that they look around their offices and extrapolate ;-)
- dandelany 12y agoThey weren't wrong, there's plenty of dust on the comet. The first photo of the initial landing site is visible precisely because of the shadow cast by a giant cloud of dust kicked up by the lander.
- Tloewald 12y agoThey were wrong about the amount of dust, not the presence of dust -- as was the case with the moon landing. There's plenty of dust on the moon, too, just not oceans of it.