Tag: space

creating an explosion on the Moon

I saw where somebody searched for “explosion on the moon” and found this blog, which we have talked about so that’s not surprising.  But I was curious if there was a specific explosion that someone is searching for info about.  So I did a quick search and found several links about asteroids / meteorites crashing into the Moon, which has happened countless times.  But then I saw a link where NASA was planning to trigger a massive explosion on the moon to search for ice.

NASA is preparing to launch the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, which will fly a Centaur rocket booster into the moon, triggering a six-mile-high explosion that scientists hope will confirm whether water is frozen in the perpetual darkness of craters near the moon’s south pole.

Flying a rocket into the moon at 5,600 mph to create an explosion is cool!  Where do I get that kind of job?

Actually, since nobody owns the moon, technically it wouldn’t be against the law to create your own explosions on the moon, right?  Of course, that would require money and technology we don’t yet possess, but we can dream, right?  🙂

launching a toilet into space

Speaking of the lottery, I was recently involved in a lunch conversation where some people were talking about being super-extravagant if they won the lottery.  At some point, the conversation somehow gravitated toward toilets.  (I have some friends that get really random!)  I don’t know how the topics merged together, but someone said they’d have toilets that get launched into space when they get stopped up, or maybe even just when they’re flushed.  I don’t think toilets were meant to be disposable.  Also, I’m not sure what they cost, but given how many times a flush is needed for a normal household per day, that might burn through the lottery winnings fairly quickly.

Besides, can you imagine Earth being surrounded by toilets in orbit?  There would be toilets (full of poop) crashing into satellites and burning up on re-entry in the atmosphere.  The more I think about it, the more reasons I come up with for why that’s a crappy idea.

But I do admit that seeing toilets launched from someone’s house repeatedly might be kinda cool… that is, as long as they achieve orbit and don’t come back down.  There’s many obvious flaws in the scenario of them returning to the ground.  As cool as it would be to see a toilet shatter*, it would cause some serious damage if it hit something.

* Mango-Man says he’s seen a toilet fall off a truck and shatter into a million pieces and that it was indeed cool.  Too bad he wasn’t prepared to capture video of it.  It’s not everyday you get to see toilets break.  (Actually, I know someone who says he breaks his toilet on a regular basis, but more in a figurative sense.)

I’ve probably said more about toilets in this post than you care to hear about, so I’ll stop now.  But for the few who want more, there is a popular post here about toilet facts, and there are other posts about toilets (such as the motorcycle that runs on poop and has a built-in toilet).  You can use the search function in the sidebar to find even more toilet-related nuggets.  Hmm, that might not be the best choice of words, but this conversation is already in the toilet, so what does it matter?  🙂

pee in space

First, look at this picture:

space pee

What do you think that is?  Obviously the article name is a clue.  The space shuttle Discovery recently released 150 pounds of astronaut urine and waste water into space.  Apparently space regulations ban astronauts from dumping waste water at the International Space Station, so they wait until they undock before releasing their excrement waste.

There’s a little more info and another picture at this link: Space Shuttle Unleashes Magnificent Plume of Pee.

If you missed seeing it, a NASA spokeswoman said it’s a fairly common sighting.  While it looks cool, it seems like there’s probably a better way for dumping that kind of waste…  Hopefully it all burns up, but I don’t know.  I do know that you don’t want to think about it too much…

why we should blow up the Moon

moon explosionAfter all this talk of blowing up the Moon, I revisited the petition to blow up the moon, and it’s up to 1109 signatures.  That’s quite a few people, though nowhere near enough to get this kind of legislation to pass.

I decided to glance at some of the recent signatures, to see what people are listing as their reasons for signing it, and I found some interesting excuses.  Here’s some of the most random and creative ones (with the original spelling and grammar):

* How long before it crashes to Earth and kills the dinosaurs again?
* I’m not using it for anything. Why not blow it up?
* Pretty annoying. Never stays the same shape.
* because it has enslaved humans in its evil orbital …… orbit for far to long
* It blocks my view.
* it gives us nothing and if we can blow it up we can study the inside from the outside
* it causes the tides. which causes friction which in turn causes volcanos to erupt, and im living on a volcano.
* Been there, not done it.
* sure destroying the moon would have catastrofic effects but thats the fun of it
* One word: werewolves!
* I am sick of my sandcastles being washed away.
* Because it’s stupid and cheesy.
* The moon is the giant stir-stick in the solution of life, and the planet would look nice with a ring…
* It should be blown up because it’s leeching off our gravity.
* It makes me feel empty inside.
* It’s starting to smell.
* Waste of space…(get it?)
* SOMEONE SET UP US THE BOMB!
* When I was there, it pretty much sucked.
* What if it falls down?
* I hate cheese…
* For too long the moon has looked down on us!
* what the crap if u blow up the moon earth would be destroyed also and id just be plain idiotic

So there you have it — lots of reasons why the Moon should be blown up.  Of course, if we were to consider the argument for not blowing up the Moon, there’s at least one really good reason on that side.  I won’t get into that debate here, but you can ponder it on your own time.  Just don’t actually try to blow up the Moon on your own — there’s some potential side effects that need to be considered first.  (Also at that last link is part of our discussion on how the Moon is broken.)