Yet Another Cycling Forum

Off Topic => The Pub => Topic started by: andyoxon on 15 January, 2019, 11:51:58 am

Title: Life found on the moon...
Post by: andyoxon on 15 January, 2019, 11:51:58 am
...Chinese grown cotton plants to be precise.   ;)

(https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/660/cpsprodpb/0058/production/_105188000_mediaitem105187999.jpg)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-46873526

lmpressive, first biological matter grown on the moon.

First step in a moon-base race with USA?
Title: Re: Life found on the moon...
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 15 January, 2019, 11:57:32 am
Race to the first lunar textile factory? Interesting that the cotton has grown but none of the other organisms have.
Title: Re: Life found on the moon...
Post by: mattc on 15 January, 2019, 12:17:46 pm
Race to the first lunar textile factory? Interesting that the cotton has grown but none of the other organisms have.
In which case, who is going to wear the stuff?!?
Title: Re: Life found on the moon...
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 15 January, 2019, 12:21:36 pm
They didn't run around naked...
(https://i.guim.co.uk/img/static/sys-images/Guardian/About/General/2013/10/15/1381848096372/The-Clangers-010.jpg?width=620&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=b3c64db7b80eec55d70d5f9fa718af6c)
Title: Re: Life found on the moon...
Post by: bobb on 15 January, 2019, 12:38:40 pm
It's life "Put" on the Moon rather than "Found". Not that it isn't fascinating...
Title: Re: Life found on the moon...
Post by: T42 on 15 January, 2019, 01:06:32 pm
According to The Martian, isn't one of the criteria for successful colonization to plant & grow a crop of something?
Title: Re: Plant life grows on lunar probe, news at eleven...
Post by: spesh on 15 January, 2019, 01:36:05 pm
It's life "Put" on the Moon rather than "Found". Not that it isn't fascinating...

Quite. There's no need to use a misleading thread title as click bait.

That sort of thing is best left to the ideologues in P&OBI.  :demon:


Edited.
Title: Re: Life found on the moon...
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 15 January, 2019, 02:05:49 pm
If this cotton plant dies before Chang'e leaves the moon (I assume it is going to return to Earth at some point, if only so botanist people can examine the plants), it will be the first death on the moon.
Title: Re: Life found on the moon...
Post by: ian on 15 January, 2019, 02:20:42 pm
I'm really not sure why anyone wouldn't expect a plant to grow on the Moon, it's in a sealed, temperature-controlled environment, so the only real difference is the lack of gravity. And plants have been grown plenty of times in microgravity.

Obviously going to the Moon is a quite an achievement in itself as it isn't even on a bus route.
Title: Re: Life found on the moon...
Post by: Torslanda on 15 January, 2019, 02:39:06 pm
Am I right in thinking this  is on the 'far side' of the Moon? ie the bit that never faces the Earth?

That they could achieve a controlled landing and get pictures back from the lander is most impressive, to me at any rate. The Apollo spacecraft had a radio blackout for almost half of every orbit, Anyone know how the Chinese have overcome this?
Title: Re: Life found on the moon...
Post by: ian on 15 January, 2019, 02:42:38 pm
They bounce them off a relay satellite they had thoughtfully remembered to put up there.
Title: Re: Life found on the moon...
Post by: Andrij on 15 January, 2019, 04:56:14 pm
They bounce them off a relay satellite they had thoughtfully remembered to put up there.

While they're at it, I wonder if they'd be so kind to confirm there are no alien craft parked out of our line of sight.
Title: Re: Life found on the moon...
Post by: Kim on 15 January, 2019, 05:37:27 pm
According to The Martian, isn't one of the criteria for successful colonization to plant & grow a crop of something?

First human to Von Kármán crater's a space pirate!
Title: Re: Life found on the moon...
Post by: Kim on 15 January, 2019, 05:40:01 pm
They bounce them off a relay satellite they had thoughtfully remembered to put up there.

For "orbiting the Earth-Moon L2 point" values of 'up there', so they only need the one satellite for continuous coverage.
Title: Re: Life found on the moon...
Post by: Kim on 15 January, 2019, 05:43:17 pm
If this cotton plant dies before Chang'e leaves the moon (I assume it is going to return to Earth at some point, if only so botanist people can examine the plants), it will be the first death on the moon.

It's not coming back.  Sample-return is an objective for a later mission, and is harder on account of needing much more rockety stuff.  I think the SCIENCE question here is how long their little ecosystem-inna-bottle will remain viable for.

What I'd like to know (and haven't seen in the media) is whether the lander and/or rover is designed to survive the lunar night or not.  That's a non-trivial engineering challenge in itself.
Title: Re: Life found on the moon...
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 15 January, 2019, 05:44:22 pm
In that case we can start planning the first lunar funeral.
Title: Re: Life found on the moon...
Post by: ian on 15 January, 2019, 05:50:55 pm
They bounce them off a relay satellite they had thoughtfully remembered to put up there.

For "orbiting the Earth-Moon L2 point" values of 'up there', so they only need the one satellite for continuous coverage.

Or they have a really long piece of string and a couple of tin cans.
Title: Re: Plant life grows on lunar probe, news at eleven...
Post by: andyoxon on 15 January, 2019, 05:51:36 pm
It's life "Put" on the Moon rather than "Found". Not that it isn't fascinating...

Quite. There's no need to use a misleading thread title as click bait.

That sort of thing is best left to the ideologues in P&OBI.  :demon:


Edited.

 ;)  I'm guessing people didn't actually think extraterrestrial life had been discovered on the moon...
Title: Re: Life found on the moon...
Post by: andyoxon on 15 January, 2019, 05:54:55 pm
I'm really not sure why anyone wouldn't expect a plant to grow on the Moon, it's in a sealed, temperature-controlled environment, so the only real difference is the lack of gravity. And plants have been grown plenty of times in microgravity.

Obviously going to the Moon is a quite an achievement in itself as it isn't even on a bus route.

I do think there's a symbolic element to this cotton plant growth. 

Bring on a moon base.

(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/39/Space1999_Year1_Title.jpg)
Title: Re: Life found on the moon...
Post by: Kim on 15 January, 2019, 05:56:03 pm
Or they have a really long piece of string and a couple of tin cans.

Unfortunately those don't work properly in a vacuum.  I think they discovered that on one of the Gemini missions.
Title: Re: Life found on the moon...
Post by: spesh on 15 January, 2019, 05:59:45 pm
It's life "Put" on the Moon rather than "Found". Not that it isn't fascinating...

Quite. There's no need to use a misleading thread title as click bait.

That sort of thing is best left to the ideologues in P&OBI.  :demon:


Edited.

 ;)  I'm guessing people didn't actually think extraterrestrial life had been discovered on the moon...

That may be, but using wording like that in the thread title was just asking for it... ;D
Title: Re: Life found on the moon...
Post by: rogerzilla on 15 January, 2019, 06:13:54 pm
Mondnazis?
Title: Re: Life found on the moon...
Post by: ian on 15 January, 2019, 06:34:24 pm
Didn't someone park a bus up there?
Title: Re: Life found on the moon...
Post by: spesh on 15 January, 2019, 06:45:47 pm
Didn't someone park a bus up there?

No, it was a WW2 bomber found on the moon, the bus was found at the South Pole. Allegedly.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/62440303@N04/5683217529
Title: Re: Life found on the moon...
Post by: ian on 15 January, 2019, 06:51:36 pm
Ah, I see. That makes a lot more sense. It didn't seem very likely someone had parked a bus up there.
Title: Re: Life found on the moon...
Post by: spesh on 15 January, 2019, 07:01:16 pm
Ah, I see. That makes a lot more sense. It didn't seem very likely someone had parked a bus up there.

Not even Cliff or Vyvyan's map-reading would have been that bad.

As for the bomber, that's none too plausible either, though I'm sure that Giorgio Tsoukalos (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giorgio_A._Tsoukalos) off the History Channel has a theory (http://www.openminds.tv/wp-content/uploads/I-am-not-saying.jpg).
Title: Re: Life found on the moon...
Post by: Kim on 15 January, 2019, 08:27:11 pm
What I'd like to know (and haven't seen in the media) is whether the lander and/or rover is designed to survive the lunar night or not.  That's a non-trivial engineering challenge in itself.

https://spacenews.com/change-4-spacecraft-enter-lunar-nighttime-china-planning-future-missions-cooperation/

http://www.chinanews.com/gn/2019/01-15/8729687.shtml


(The hardware is, but the biosphere is frozen at -52C and will start to decompose when it thaws out again in a couple of weeks.)
Title: Re: Life found on the moon...
Post by: Beardy on 16 January, 2019, 05:19:36 pm
It’s dying
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/jan/16/china-first-cotton-plant-on-moon-dies-change-4-lander (https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/jan/16/china-first-cotton-plant-on-moon-dies-change-4-lander)