Resource Prospector (RP) is an in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) technology demonstration mission which will test extraction of oxygen, water and other volatiles from lunar soil (regolith). It will also measure mineralogical content such as silicon and light metals, like aluminum and titanium, from lunar regolith. Expanding human presence beyond low-Earth orbit to asteroids and Mars will require the maximum possible use of local materials, so-called in-situ resources, and the moon presents a unique destination to conduct robotic investigations that advance ISRU capabilities, as well as providing significant exploration and science value
Mission has already been done before (multiple times)! Why?
What would be the mission lifespan?
Looks like they're targeting 2018http://sservi.nasa.gov/articles/nasa-looking-to-mine-water-on-the-moon-and-mars/
Lunokhod 1 (322 days / 6.5 miles):http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunokhod_1Lunokhod 2 (4 months / 23 miles)http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunokhod_2
Nobody is going to drink 4.6 billion year old water anyways.
Quote from: Mr. Scott on 05/24/2015 09:31 pmNobody is going to drink 4.6 billion year old water anyways.Most water on Earth is older than that!
In a recent NASA animation, the Falcon 9 is shown to launch a mission to the moon called "Resource Prospector."QuoteResource Prospector (RP) is an in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) technology demonstration mission which will test extraction of oxygen, water and other volatiles from lunar soil (regolith). It will also measure mineralogical content such as silicon and light metals, like aluminum and titanium, from lunar regolith. Expanding human presence beyond low-Earth orbit to asteroids and Mars will require the maximum possible use of local materials, so-called in-situ resources, and the moon presents a unique destination to conduct robotic investigations that advance ISRU capabilities, as well as providing significant exploration and science value
Quote from: CuddlyRocket on 05/25/2015 07:45 pmQuote from: Mr. Scott on 05/24/2015 09:31 pmNobody is going to drink 4.6 billion year old water anyways.Most water on Earth is older than that!Yep. The hydrogen in it is 13.8 billion years old.
Most of it, but a small fraction would have been produced in fusion processes in Pop 3 & 2 stars, especially in r-process reactions that created very short-lived radionucleotides.The oxygen in the water was probably made in a few different Pop 2 stars, as Pop 3 stars really didn't get into the CNO cycle.
Quote from: Ludus on 05/29/2015 04:15 amQuote from: CuddlyRocket on 05/25/2015 07:45 pmQuote from: Mr. Scott on 05/24/2015 09:31 pmNobody is going to drink 4.6 billion year old water anyways.Most water on Earth is older than that!Yep. The hydrogen in it is 13.8 billion years old.Quote from: simonbp on 05/30/2015 05:04 amMost of it, but a small fraction would have been produced in fusion processes in Pop 3 & 2 stars, especially in r-process reactions that created very short-lived radionucleotides.The oxygen in the water was probably made in a few different Pop 2 stars, as Pop 3 stars really didn't get into the CNO cycle.Yes, the vast majority of the hydrogen and oxygen in the solar system predates its formation; but so do most of the water molecules themselves.But the main point is that if we are going to explore and colonise the solar system the people doing it will have to be a whole lot less squeamish about recycling than many give the impression of being!
Neat. Mission has already been done before (multiple times)! Why? An Apollo Mission Science Report concluded that there is no water on the moon. It's more fun to bring your own anyway. Nobody is going to drink 4.6 billion year old water.
This is not a real mission. It's a fuzzy, ill-defined, make work project. NASA sorta penciled it in years ago and said that they would pay for the rocket and the instruments, but another partner would have to pay for the lander and rover. Nobody really stepped up to do that, and NASA did not try too hard, and so it's been in stasis forever.My suspicion is that this is primarily a budget thing. HEOMD has people that do not have specific project assignments, but it still has to pay their salaries, so they assign them to this and call it a project. But there's no money for procurement or hiring contractors or doing anything like that.You should see the way this is treated at the annual Lunar Exploration Analysis Group meetings--the lunar scientists there don't take it seriously.