Does this explain what generates gravity?

I find very little interest in the Moon whatsoever.

However, countries and private companies are hugely interested in establishing permanent residences on the Moon.

I have spoken before in this thread of the strategic and economic importance of the Moon and cislunar space.

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According to author Tim Marshall, "the 21st century has seen the emergence of private space-tech entrepreneurs who smell money in the stars".
 
but can think of no use for the Moon at all except as a base for huge and useful Space telescopes

Here's some interesting information about the Moon of which I was not previously aware.

A future use for the Moon could be as a source of Helium-3, a gas that has the potential to be used as a fuel in future nuclear fusion power plants. Apparently, several governments have signalled their intention to go to the Moon to mine Helium-3 as a fuel supply.

There is very little Helium-3 on Earth. It's produced as a by-product of the maintenance of nuclear weapons which generates around 15 Kg a year.

Because the Moon does not have an atmosphere, there is nothing to stop Helium-3 arriving on its surface via the solar winds and being absorbed by the lunar soil. It has been estimated that there are around 1,100,000 metric tonnes of Helium-3 in the lunar regolith down to a depth of a few metres.

About 25 tonnes of Helium-3 (a fully-loaded space shuttle cargo bay's worth) could power the United States for a year. Given our limited space travel technologies, Helium-3 would currently be the only viable resource to consider mining on the Moon and transporting to Earth.

I extracted and edited information from this source: https://explainingthefuture.com/helium3.html
 
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Ah, follow the money! Our reactors aren't making it any more.

Helium-3 Price.jpg


Already "gold-diggers" at Interlune are salivating:

Helium-3.png


Weightless experiments are advanced. But surely things do have weight on the Moon? 🤔

Test Engineers Interlune.jpg


We need a toy truck for children to play with in their sandpits as a marketing spinoff. 😎


Interlune.jpg


Ha Ha Ha... No MOONstone unturned surely? 😀

Interlune Helium-3 Mining.jpg


Adventurous persons wanted, for lucrative work of a hazardous nature. 🤣
 
Helium-3 mining on the Moon will certainly not be easy. Some might even consider the idea as moonshine.

Interlune would likely need to process tens of of tons of lunar regolith to produce a single gram of Helium-3.

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But who knows what the future holds? Perhaps we'll be mining Helium-3 from Jupiter's atmosphere, where it is much more abundant!
 
I got excited just now at the prospect of some famous Nova observations tonight:

Clement Weather for Astronomy.jpg


https://www.ventusky.com/

Set up my trusty Nikon. Couldn't see a thing! THICK FOG! I do not find this mentioned at Ventusky...

I think this Moon Mining thing is absolute rot. Did you know, as I do, that Moondust electromagnetically levitates?

Wait, maybe that is what I am seeing tonight?


I do have a cunning plan to bring back Hydrogen gas from Jupiter. I have built a prototype.

601px-Hindenburg_disaster.jpeg


The Mark II will have "No Smoking" signs.
 
MISSING NOVA-the-new-evidence:

New Evidence Sheds Light on Nova Mystery.jpg


We found this in the Tuesday archives of a certain system7 of Portsmouth, UK.

You'll have to imagine the typical Documentary music, the serious flat narration, and an hour of scientific investigations making you feel you are wasting your life watching such stuff.

Other wasted hours of Documantaries include:

What is the Secret of the Pyramids?

Why did Elvis throw it all away?

What was the purpose of Stonehenge?

Because the answer is always: "Nobody Knows." 🙁
 
Well, after a night disturbed by Ship's Hooters going off in the fog, a common occurrence in "The Waterfront City", I HOPED to awake and find you had solved "The Riddle of the Hindenburg."

Feynman would have solved it in a jiffy, of course. He would have blamed the complacent corporate structure of NASA The Third Reich taking short cuts with safety.

I put it down to Saint Elmo's Fire, which I read about in Arthur Mee's Children's Encyclopedia as a mere impressionable child of the British Empire. It particularly afflicted the spears and pointy helmets of Roman Soldiers, with an eerie glow whilst attempting to civilise the unruly natives of Britain.

Also known to ignite ships of the French Navy which, foolishly, were not earthed with copper bottoms:

St. Elmo's Fire.jpg


TBH, this page of our thread seems to be a bit of a time-waster, so far. Just my opinion. 🤣
 
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One depressing week in space.

6th March 2025:

Athena Spaceship on its Side.jpg


Two in a row (failures) for Athena! I was looking forward to the Spacehopper submodule thing too. Though it looked unlikely to manage 5 perfect hops into a deep watery crater IMO, given the track record of the primary module..

7th. March 2025:

Starship Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly 2.jpg


Two in a row (failures) for Starship! I think this is the Elon Musk second stage raining debris down on nearby Caribbean Islands, where doubtless sales of crash hats on the beach are booming.

Onwards and Upwards! Or Downwards? I was able to indulge my fascination with exploding rockets anyway. But why aren't I now in charge of one of these projects?

If these were football clubs, they would sack the managers. And appoint me and Jose Mourinho. The Special Ones.

Does this explain what generates Gravity? 🤣
 
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Two in a row (failures) for Athena!

Two in a row for Intuitive Machines, last year with Odysseus and now, it would appear, with Athena.

The mission is part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program in which a variety of landers will deliver scientific payloads to the Moon:

https://newspaceeconomy.ca/2024/09/...hift in NASA’s strategy for lunar exploration.

I too was looking forward to hearing of the Micro Nova Hopper leaping into a permanently shadowed crater in the search for water ice:

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Ah, yes. "Alas poor Odysseus, I knew him, Horatio."

Odysseus.jpg


This is starting to look like "The labours of Hercules." Personally I would employ young Sisyphus, who has quietly COMLETED HIS TASK!

Kyaiktiyo Pagoda Myanmar.jpg


He says it is held up with a hair of the Buddha.

Back in the Space Laboratory, myself and Jose have put our sharp brains together for a fail-safe Lunar Lander.

He wanted the agility of a feline pilot:

Falling Cat.png


I approached it Mathematically and considered a Terahedral Cat of uniform density:

Tetrahedral Cat Idea.png


We are already testing our prototype Lunar Lander:

Tetrahedral Cat Spacecraft.jpg


They don't teach that in school. It's why we get the big bucks. 🤣
 
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That prototype looks just 'purrfect'! :blackcat:

Even if Athena has remained sufficiently upright to ensure adequate solar power generation and communications, it only has a window of 10 days in which to complete the IM-2 mission before the Sun sets over the Moon's South Pole.

Full details of Athena's payload may be found here: https://www.space.com/the-universe/...ander-near-moon-south-pole-historic-touchdown

Shame if it can't be used.
 
Alas, the USA seems unwilling to share intelligence with its former "Allies" in Europe.

I cannot watch it. Perhaps 2LO the BBC will cut off our Wireless Programmes to you?

Two can play at that game, don'tcha know? 😊
I've had the BBC not feed me stuff because they also discriminate based on my IP address being across the pond. PBS Nova episodes are often on Youtube for a short time, I don't know if that one was, but apparently it's not now. Youtube was the first place I looked, but there's only a trailer.
 
But you still haven't SOLVED the mystery of the Hindenburg for us! Heaven forbid you posted a mere unexplained link without even watching it? Expecting us to do your homework for you? A Cardinal Forum SIN in my view.

Anyway, I was on "Mastermind" tonight. Special subject "Particle Physics." Which I had brushed up on. "Da-Da-Da-Da-DA-Dum"

https://www.quantamagazine.org/neutrinos-lead-to-unexpected-discovery-in-basic-math-20191113/

"What is the link between the Tau Neutrino and Neutrino Mathematician Terence Tao?"

Neutrino Flavour Explained.jpg


Terence Tao.jpg


I breezed it. AND SO SHOULD YOU!

A FIRE HOSE!!!

Maybe some hard ones next week... like identify the X Particle that may shatter the Standard Model?

Rare Decay of Neutral Kaon.jpg


As if! Me and Sabrina Hossenpfeffer will give them what for!

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/sep/26/physics-particles-physicists
 
Oh, I watched it when it came out a year or three, whenever ago. There were metal parts along the outside frame that were insulated (whether intentional or not) and a charge accumulated between them that eventually arced over and started the blaze. I know, that's too short, but that's what I remember.
 
That Guardian site is forcing me to accept personalised advertising and all cookies, so it can just go and take a running jump to itself!

However, here's what I've written before about kaons:

It all has to do with the question of whether the laws of nature are the same for matter as they are for antimatter.

Decays of a neutral kaon occur differently from those of its antiparticle partner, violating charge-parity (CP) symmetry.

CP violation in kaons is thought to be a good place to look for new physics beyond the standard model.

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