Author: liliancmoraes

A descoberta de água na Lua abre caminho para base lunar permanente (The Guardian)

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/sep/24/discovery-water-moon-lunar-base

Discovery of water on moon boosts prospects for permanent lunar base

Nasa’s long-term goal of establishing a permanent, crewed base on the moon has been bolstered by the revelation there are large quantities of water locked in its soil
* Ian Sample, science correspondent
* guardian.co.uk, Thursday 24 September 2009 12.04 BST
* Article history

Graphic: How solar wind deposits water on moon

Moon water: Hydrogen ions carried from the sun in the solar wind may liberate oxygen from minerals in lunar soil to form water. At high temperatures (red-yellow) more molecules are released than adsorbed. When the temperature decreases (green-blue) water accumulates. Photograph: F. Merlin/University of Maryland

Nasa’s plans to establish a human outpost on the moon have received a surprise boost following the discovery of large amounts of water on its surface.

Three spacecraft detected a thin sheen of water locked up in the first few millimetres of lunar soil that could be extracted and used to sustain astronauts on expeditions to our nearest celestial neighbour.

Instruments aboard the spacecraft suggest that a cubic metre of soil on the lunar surface could hold around a litre of water.

The discovery of water on the moon will bolster Nasa’s long-term goal of establishing a permanently crewed outpost there. The space agency is developing a new generation of rockets and crew capsules capable of reaching the moon which are due to fly within five years of the space shuttle fleet being retired next year.

“From the long-term space exploration point of view, it opens an entirely new option to consider as a water resource,” said Carle Pieters, a planetary scientist at Brown University in Rhode Island, who led the study. “It has surprised everyone.”

Since the Apollo missions brought back the first clumps of lunar soil and rock in the 1960s, scientists have worked on the assumption that the moon is bone dry. Small traces of water found in some of the samples were dismissed as contamination picked up while the material was being handled on Earth.

The latest discovery came when scientists analysed sunlight glancing off the moon’s surface with detectors aboard the Chandrayaan-1 probe, India’s first mission to observe the moon. The reflected light was found to be missing infrared wavelengths that are absorbed by water molecules.

The results were backed up by further observations from spectrometers aboard Nasa’s Deep Impact and Cassini probes. The research will be published in the US journal Science tomorrow.

Writing in the journal, Paul Lucey, a planetary scientist at the University of Hawaii, who was not involved in the study, comments: “The most valuable result of these new observations is that they prompt a critical re-examination of the notion that the moon is dry. It is not. ”

The research paper from the Deep Impact team, led by Jessica Sunshine at the University of Maryland, adds: “Observations of the moon not only unequivocally confirm the presence of [water] on the lunar surface, but also reveal that the entire lunar surface is hydrated during at least some portions of the lunar day.”

The water appears to be more abundant at the moon’s frigid poles, suggesting that water forms in the soil and gradually moves to cooler regions.

Scientists believe the moon formed when a Mars-sized body collided with the Earth some 4.4 billion years ago.

In the past 2bn years, asteroids and comets have ploughed into the moon, dumping an estimated ten thousand billion tonnes of water onto its surface.

Water is quickly broken down on the lunar surface, but Roger Clark, who led the Cassini study at the US Geological Survey in Colorado, said the new results “could be indicating the presence of that ancient water”.

Data from the spacecraft found the lunar soils became increasingly damp during sunlight hours, but dried out again at the end of the lunar day.

The waves of damp and dry conditions suggest water is created on the moon every day, when hydrogen nuclei in the solar wind slam into oxygen-rich silicate minerals on the moon’s surface.

If water is created in this way, it could happen on all airless planets throughout the inner Solar System that have oxygen-rich rocks scattered on their surfaces.

Next month, Nasa will intentionally crash a probe called LCROSS (Lunar Crater Observation Sensing Satellite Mission) into the Cabeus A crater near the lunar south pole, in the hope of finding signs of water in the shower of debris it produces.

“This much I know” (Tony Bennett)

American Singer Tony Bennett. Photograph: Phil Fisk
American Singer Tony Bennett. Photograph: Phil Fisk

“This much I know”

Tony Bennett, singer, 82, London

* Interview by Michael Odell
* The Observer, Sunday 23 November 2008

My mum had to raise three of us after my father died. All my uncles and aunts and nephews and nieces would form a circle round us and I would sing. I’m still doing the same thing.

When I saw my mother struggle it gave me ambition. It made me want to be rich enough to buy her a better life.

When I stopped being an elevator guy and started as a singing waiter I thought: ‘I can do this for the rest of my life.’ I thought I’d risen as far as I could go.

Frank Sinatra saw me and said: ‘That kid’s got four sets of balls.’ That changed my life completely. A word from him and people listened. I started having hit records. I owe him so much.

I was sent to Germany for the last two months of the war. Being shot at while I cowered in a slit trench nearly ruined my career! I ran for my life.

I had a great friend at art school called Frank Smith. He was a black man. When I ran into him in Germany I was stripped of my rank for having a meal with him. I’ve hated prejudice ever since.

War will make a pacifist of any sane man. War is the lowest form of humanity. We’re all here. Let’s get on with it.

The producers of The Sopranos offered me a fortune to use my records. I said no. I don’t like stereotypes. Italy has produced 50 geniuses – we don’t need to be depicted as mobsters.

I paint every day. I sign my work Tony Benedetto because that’s the real me.

In the Seventies I made some bad decisions. Cocaine is a bad drug. But what I learned is: don’t sin against your talent.

I’ve been coming to Britain for 50 years. The food is good now.

I play nice concert halls. Intimate venues. It was Liberace who started the trend for huge stadiums. Now everyone does these huge events like Hitler did.

Divorce is terrible. Thinking I would lose my children was the scariest time of my life. Any man who says ‘I get along with my ex-wife’ is lying.

My wife now is 40 years younger than me. I met her through her parents. She was a big fan. We’ve been together 23 years and it works because we know how to value life.

Young people keep me going. When I played at Glastonbury they set up hay bales so I could walk through the mud without getting my silk suit muddy. That was so kind.

Singing is like no other job. I like to make people feel good. And they make me feel good. It’s a virtuous circle. You don’t get that working in a bank.

The touch of human hands. You cannot live without it.

We should help people, not destroy them. Abraham Lincoln said we have to feed America and then Africa and the Middle East. What do we do? We sold weapons to them.

Progress is great, but it’s so uneven. I like the Walkman that plays a tape so you can rewind to the bit of the song you like. It was perfect. And what do they do? They get rid of it!

How long do you listen to someone before your attention wanders? Someone told me 16 minutes. In this life, if you can’t explain yourself in 16 minutes you’re in a lot of trouble.

If you ever find yourself irate or angry about something, remember: ‘This too shall pass.’

I’m a bit slower than I used to be. But I love life. You only get 100 years. Why rush it?