China says its lunar rover has found proof of water on the moon(metro.co.uk)

2 pointsby awbvor 5 Jahren1 comments

metro.co.uk

China says its lunar rover has found proof of water on the moon

https://metro.co.uk/2022/01/11/china-says-its-lunar-rover-has-found-proof-of-water-on-the-moon-15897303/

2 comments

Every article like this says something like:

    It can be turned into oxygen for astronauts to breathe and drink,

But they don't mention that breathing 100% oxygen means you will die in a fire like these guys

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_1

For space colonization you also need some inert gas like Nitrogen, Argon, Sulfur Hexafluoride, Freon, etc. The big air spaces from the O'Neill colonies are a fantasy right up there with the giant robots of Gundam unless you can find huge amounts of nitrogen.

I was modeling a very small Bernal sphere with about 50 habitable acres that spun more quickly than any space colony in the literature (might have to turn down the g's if people can't stand spinning the fast.) The idea was to be a showy destination for LEO with a big impressive airspace. It would take 15 SpaceX Starship loads of LN2 just for the atmosphere.

Since water is not the only volatile you need lunar water might be less game changing than people think.

abdkvor 5 Jahren