After the second stage of a satellite that was mapping out the moon fell to the surface of the moon, it created a huge splash of about 26 gallons of water. This greatly surprised many scientists because they had no clue that there was water on the south pole of the moon. This crater that the second stage of the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (Lcross) crash-landed into seems to be wetter than a few places on Earth including the Sahara Desert. Even though it is really dry in our terms, it is an oasis on the moon and it is surprisingly wet for a place that was thought to be utterly dry by scientists. The water in the crater is just like the water on Earth and can be purified for drinking or split into hydrogen and oxygen for fuel to get home or to travel to Mars. While the Sahara Desert contains 2 to 5 percent water, this crater on the south pole of the moon contains 8.5 percent water. The second stage of the Lcross fell off when astronomers were testing it for future visits to the moon. It was later discovered that the crater, called the Cabeus crater, contains about 40 gallons of water. It is also one of the coldest places on the moon because it reaches -370 degrees Fahrenheit there because it is on the dark side of the moon. Scientists also found other elements such as sodium, silver, calcium, magnesium, and mercury in the freezing water. This discovery is huge for the astronomy society in many ways.
The fact that a lot of water was found on the moon brings up a lot of possibilities about what can be done with it and how this discovery affects humanity. One way that this discovery effects humanity is if people on Earth ever need to go to the moon for some reason their will be water that is fine for drinking on the moon. Scientists say that there are probably a lot of other craters like the Cabeus crater that contain water. A more practical use for the water is that it can be split up into hydrogen and oxygen and be used as fuel for spaceships. With water on the moon, the moon can act a stepping stone into space where spaceships can get more fuel to travel to Mars or to get back to Earth. With this discovery scientists are more excited about getting back to the moon to study the moon and the possibilities of space travel to other planets. But, President Obama is holding these astronomers back because he passed a bill saying that there will be no funding for moon travel because he thinks it is a waste of money. This discovery also affects humanity because it allows scientists to determine what type of minerals the moon is composed of. By finding the percentages of each mineral in the water sample from the moon, scientists can get a feeling for how much of each element makes up the moon’s surface. The biggest way that this discovery affects humanity is that it should gain the public’s interest and convince them that space travel is very interesting and beneficial to the Earth. The scientists hope that the study of the moon will continue until we have a new president that is in favor of space travel.
This article was a very interesting and well-written article. It clearly described what the discovery was on the moon, how the discovery happened, and what can be done with the information gained from the discovery. The author also uses many quotes from scientists that were involved with the discovery. These quotes greatly added to the flow of the article. This article had only a few weaknesses, one being that it was confusing when it explained how the Lcross created the discovery. The article could have been improved by adding a paragraph that talks about the previous discoveries of water on the moon so that the reader could compare the previous discoveries with this one. The author could have also expanded on what scientists are doing to today in relation to the moon and eventually bringing people back there again. Overall, this article was well-written and its flaws did not affect the interesting information talked about in the article.
Posted for R. Faselt
One aspect of the review that I though was very well presented was the 'stepping stone' analogy. He explained that the discovered water on the moon could help fuel ships for further travel, acting as a stepping stone. I thought this metaphor was very good and helped clarify the idea. I also thought it was very good how he compared the water capacity of the Cabeus crater to the Sahara dessert. Comparing the crater on the moon to a dessert on earth helped put it in context. The Crater of the moon is approximately 4.5% more wet. One last feature of the review that I thought was well presented was the way the discovery affects humanity. It showed that the discovery may actually bring public interest back into space travel, which would be very beneficial to the field. While there were many things that were well presented by this review, there were some aspects that could have been improved.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that I thought could be elaborated on more is the way the Lcross ship actually crashed into the moon and what caused it to do so. It seems rather random a billion dollar space shuttle would just malfunction in space and crash into our moon. One other improvement that I thought could have been made to this review was the addition of quotations from the article. It was mentioned that the article had lots of good quotes, but none of them were included in the review. While this review did have a few flaws, I thought that there were some things that very interesting.
I was very surprised when I read that the scientists of today were not aware of the water content on the moon. I would expect that with the large funds that have gone into NASA and other counterpart organizations in the past, researchers would have mapped out most of the moon by now and would know if there was a substantial water supply.
This was a very interesting and informative current event review. The main aspect of it that I enjoyed was the clarity in which the information was presented. Included in this review was an analogy to the “stepping stones” in the process of space travel as well as a comparison to the Sahara Desert which is something that is well known by the public and thus made it easy for me to visualize what this Moon crater looks like. Secondly, this review did an excellent job of explaining what these scientific discoveries mean for the future. This is where the “stepping stone” analogy comes into play, as we learn that finding this source of water on the moon can lead to an increase in space travel as the moon can be a base where the astronauts can use the water for fuel by breaking apart its components. Finally, this review had an appropriate amount of hard facts and statistics for the amount of summary, insight, and analysis of the article. Statistics make scientific information more believable for many people, but too many numbers in a summary and review can become overwhelming for the reader, but the balance in this review was just right.
ReplyDeleteOne suggestion that I have is to explain more about the scientific discovery itself. I feel I have a great knowledge of the affects of the discovery, but know very little about how it came about. What made Lcross crash and what exactly did the satellite find upon its landing on the moon. Also, I would like to know more background about the situation. For example, what if any water was previously known about on the moon and what was the mission of the Lcross satellite. Another question would be how they will go about finding more water bearing craters since this one was stumbled upon by accident.
This review was full of interesting information, but what I found most fascinating was thinking about the possibilities that this discovery has opened for space travel. Since the moon can be used as a check point for travel farther into space I know believe that we should invest more money into space travel because we never know what important resources we can find, or what information we can learn about life on earth based on discoveries from other planets.
Moon Crater Contains Usable Water, NASA Says
ReplyDeleteShea Braumuller
There were many things that Robbie did well in summarizing this article. To start, the summary was well written and included all the imperative facts when describing a scientific study. A study of this caliber is very hard to break down into simpler terms and Robbie did a great job of doing so. The summary starts off by talking about the discovery of water on the moon and then goes into what it could be used for. This was a good method of explaining why the finding was relevant and extremely important to today. The water is drinkable and also usable as fuel for spaceships. Robbie also related the water finding to how President Obama feels about it and how it will be approached in the future. Although this water is so valuable and this finding is new and exiting President Obama has decided to pass a bill against funding moon research. He thinks it is a waste of money. Overall this article was well summarized and proves to be relevant to the issues of today.
Although Robbie did a great job of making a very complicated science topic simplistic there were some things he could have done better. A more in depth description of how the discovery of the water came about would have been helpful in understanding how something unfortunate like the breaking of a spacecraft led to something so fascinating. The last thing that would have been helpful in having a broader understanding of the topic would be to explain how the water could be broken down into fuel.
I learned that there was water and usable minerals on the moon that were new to astronauts and astronomers everywhere.
I thought that the article "Moon Crater Contains Usable Water, NASA Says" was sufficiently summarized in this review. The possibilities that this discovery have brought to light were summarized in a way that was very understandable; one could easily make the connections of discovering water to the possibilities that it has created for traveling to planets. I also felt that he did a good job of identifying the flaws in this article. Another thing that I liked about this review was that the content was relevant and interesting. Scientists have been trying to find a large source of water on planets and other masses in space for awhile and therefore this incidental discovery is significant.
ReplyDeleteYet, there were some things that could have been improved. One of the things that I wish could have been clearer was how, exactly, the Lcross crashing on the moon found such a large source of water. Also, I felt that the ideas in the second paragraph could have flowed a little better from one idea to the next.
But, overall I felt that this review was full of information. One fact that I found particularly interesting was that President Obama has cut all funding for missions to the moon. I find this a loss because of this great discovery and all the possibilities that could come from it.
Robbie did a great job at summarizing this article. Not only does his summary flow well, but it also clearly explains the discovery of water on the moon; he really breaks it down so readers can understand the discovery and its effects. I really like that he explained multiple effects this discovery could have on society because it really ties in to life. I also like that he touched on Obama because it incorporates other parts of society and how it relates to the scientific discovery.
ReplyDeleteI think Robbie should have explained the Lcross better. He mentions that the article did not do a good job at explaining it, so it would have been nice if he had spent a little more time trying to explain that and clear it up for readers. He also mentions the article including quotes from scientists, and I think his review would have been better if he included a quote or at least mentioned some of the scientists who were quoted.
I learned a lot from this artilce and was surprised to hear that water had been found on the moon after it had long been though life could not exist there. I would really like to hear more about this topic as the study and the effects of the doscovery continue.
I felt Robbie did a great job summarizing the article as well as explaining the significance of the find.
ReplyDeleteIn the summary, Robbie had a number of great facts from the article. he gave hard data about the % water found in the south pole of the moon and put that data into a an easy to understand context by comparing it to the Sahara Desert. I felt the best part of the review was his understanding of the possible outcomes of such a discovery. I found the comment about the water being converting into hydrogen and oxygen rocket fuel to be the most interesting. Finally, I enjoyed his review of the article itself. he pointed out a clear weakness, which was the fact that the article didn't talk much about the history of water discoveries on the moon.
As strong as his review was, Robbie could have improved in a few areas. He could have gone a little more in-depth about the Lcross and its significance to the discovery. what was the Lcross doing before the crash and such. I also felt he could have given names of the scientists behind this discovery. another nice addition would also have been putting quotes from the article in his summary.
I learned a great deal from this article. I think the biggest thing I i learned from this article was the fact that there was a significant amount of water on the moon. I knew that there was water on the moon, but I never knew there was a significant amount of water present.
The presentation of the review in general was good because of 3 things. Firstly, Robbie was able to write in a more casual and conversational manner that would attract the reader and keep him or her going. Secondly, the facts he stated weren't placed there simply to take up space. They were effectively utilized so that he could build them up and link them. They led to a general conclusion in the article that I found fascinating. Finally, the paragraph breaks are done at the most appropriate times possible. They give the reader a break at the times when a lot of dense and interesting information is being digested. It makes the reader take his or her time.
ReplyDeleteThe two things that could be improved are simple. The lack of information on the specific satellite would have made the article spectacular because from this review it seems like the whole thing was utter chaos that led to an amazing discover. What was the satellite doing incorrectly and why did it crash? Another thing that could have been better would be his use of citation. If the quotes in the article were also included it would be also a much more in depth review as well as a summary.
The most surprising and interesting thing about the article was the fact that scientists had never actually known that there was anything there. It took billions of taxpayers dollars and a broken satellite for them to figure out that there was water on the moon, even though scientists have been studying the moon in extreme depth for the better part of the last 50 years.