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Japan's moon probe landed upside-down but somehow it still works (www.businessinsider.com)

submitted 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

31 comments fedilink hide all child comments

nations flock to the cratered south pole and far side of the moon, where critical resources such as water could be mined.

Is capitalism so prevalent, we're running out of ocean already?

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[–] [email protected] 27 points 9 months ago (2 children)

It's not to bring back to earth, it's to use in space, water is heavy and it's crazy expensive to put water into space.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 9 months ago

Water is:

a source of oxygen for breathing
a source of hydrogen for rocket fuel
a source of hydrogen for fuel cells for power generation
for drinking (obviously)
for sanitation
for growing food
fantastic radiation shielding (important when you don't have an atmosphere to absorb solar radiation) - embed water tanks in your habitat walls or just mount them on the outside - nice layer of cancer prevention

So yeah, there's too many uses for water in space and it's really difficult to lift into orbit from Earth. Even if some future moon base starts producing an excess of water, it'll be used to resupply other space habitats or vehicles.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

thanks for the clarification

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

More like, teaching moment. Keep on learning!