/sci/ - Science & Math

>>9701644
when I heard about this I almost cried. This mission was going to answer one of the most important questions about Lunar ISRU and even set the stage for Mars ISRU. In Situ Resource Utilization(ISRU) is absolutely necessary if we are ever going to live in space and this was going to be the first mission capable of doing something like ISRU.

The question of the nature of lunar volatile deposits is very important to the future of space travel. If Lunar volatile deposits actually are close to the surface and are in a form that can be mined, this changes everything. Lunar ice, if it can be mined, could become a valuable product for use for the satellite market HERE ON EARTH. While the delta V to/from the lunar surface might be higher than asteroids, the distance is less. This makes it easier to operate robots for a mining plant on the surface of the Moon than asteroids. Lag is a quite managable couple of seconds. In addition, delivery time to/from the moon is days instead of months, which allows for faster iteration and product delivery.

>>9701674
Lunar volatiles are very poorly understood, there is a pretty big scientific case for investigating them. The LCROSS mission crashed a rocket booster into the moon and we did find water in addition to some other volatiles. The nature of these volatiles is a very interesting scientific question. In addition LCROSS found some very unusual spectral lines that may indicate the presence of mercury or silver.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LCROSS

Volatiles might also tell us about the chemical nature of lunar impactors. This is good science to do just because, however, it might help us better understand our place in the universe. This can help us estimate just how much water asteroids and comets can deliver, which helps us understand why earth has water, which helps us understand how life started on earth. We have never sent a lander to the lunar poles, nor have we explored the dark craters of the moon.