Star Trek and the moon.

[shawn12]

sojourner, yes I am very aware it would require moving a very very large amount of mass off the moon to make any difference.


"Adding an atmosphere to the moon would have absolutely zero impact on the earth and "gravity"."

Would adding an atmosphere of heavy gases to the moon create atmospheric drag on the moon's orbit?

Would adding an atmosphere change the rotation of the moon?

I am just asking?

Solar radiation would still be a major problem, regardless of an artifical atmophere and even in holding one.

 

[Finn]

Would adding an atmosphere of heavy gases to the moon create atmospheric drag on the moon's orbit?

Drag from what?

Would adding an atmosphere change the rotation of the moon?

I am just asking?

no

Solar radiation would still be a major problem, regardless of an artifical atmophere and even in holding one.

If they can fly a shuttlecraft close to the surface of the sun, they can handle living on the moon in the trekverse

 

[sojourner]

^What he said.

sojourner, yes I am very aware it would require moving a very very large amount of mass off the moon to make any difference.

Then why bring it up as an issue?

 

[Colonel Midnight]

Riker mentioned there's a body of water called "Lake Armstrong", though the science nerd in me protests at the notion of a terraformed moon: it's too small to retain its own atmosphere.

Artificial gravity? A moon-wide containment field? Local containment fields? Pressure domes?

Maaaaaagic?

Maybe it's just called "Lake Armstrong" and it isn't a real lake. Maybe it's a crater or something. The Sea of Tranquility isn't a real sea.

In that case, wouldn't / shouldn't it be called Mare Armstrong ??

Cheers,
-CM-

 

[Timo]

Nope. "Lacus Armstrongii" would be appropriate for such a smaller "body of water".

But Latin is optional, and English names are frequently used: "Sea of Tranquility" is a perfectly okay alternate expression for "Mare Tranquillitatis", for example, and is used almost invariably to describe the landing site of Apollo 11.

FWIW, real lunar lakes are named after qualities (and seasons) rather than people: Lake of Forgetfulness, Lake of Hatred, Lake of Time, Lake of Spring. Systematically speaking, we should probably have a Lake of Strongarmedness there...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[T'Girl]

it is very unlikely that any atmosphere conducive to life could be created there. Only the heaviest of gases could “stick” to the moon’s orbit

Given it's suface gravity, if given a Earth sea level atmospheric pressure, it would be tens of thousands of years before the pressure dropped low enough to make a difference to people walking around out in the open. Hundreds of thousand of years for it to "leak away."

Introducing a atmosphere would only increase the moons mass by the tiniest of amounts. A incredible weak deflector shield surrounding the moon would easily handle all natural solar radiation.

Problem with this is the episode Conspiracy, which shows the Enterprise Dee approaching Earth, moving closely passed the moon's far side. There is no apparent atmosphere, weather, lakes, anything, at least to my eye.

 

[USS Excelsior]

Maybe it's all on the near side instead so we didn't see it. Besides people would probably prefer Earth views in the sky to put all the real estate on that side.

 

[shawn12]

I will be talking to some nasa scientists next week and have a few questions to ask them about some of the issues talked about here.

http://www.mps.mpg.de/homes/hoekzema/katman
/nick/work/moonat.htm

 

[Shaw]

Not that it matters, but I'd point out that Titan has a surface gravity of about 0.14g (compared to the Moon at about 0.17g), yet has a surface pressure of about 147 kPa (compared to Earth at about 101 kPa) and is mostly nitrogen. Just some interesting figures (nothing implied)... again, not that it matters.

 

[DS9forever]

I don't know if anyone has mentioned it, but the moon was seen in DS9's "Past Tense" during the Defiant's journey to Earth.

 

[shawn12]

Shaw, just fyi

"Now, even if the moon had volatiles, it wouldn't hold them as well as Titan does. It's a lot warmer, because it's 10 times closer to the sun. So any atmosphere it had, it would lose it faster.

Titan is losing its atmosphere, too. We think that there must be mechanisms to recharge it. Cryovolcanism may be one such mechanism. So Titan's atmosphere may be a bit misleading. People think it's been there forever; it's a stable, thick atmosphere. But maybe not. It may be, in fact, losing it every 10 million years - it's just replenishing it. That's a mystery that we really don't know the answer to yet. It's one of the things that we're trying to work on from the probe results.

http://www.astrobio.net/index.php?option=com_retrospection&task=detail&id=1755

 

[Shaw]

Shaw, just fyi

Quoting this for your clarity...

Just some interesting figures (nothing implied)... again, not that it matters.

We think that there must be mechanisms to recharge it.

... and who is this we? Do you work at JPL or have any background in this area? Have you actually done research in this?

 

[Sci]

For the record, the DS9 episode "Valiant" established that Luna has not been terraformed, but, rather, that all settlements on Luna are enclosed in vast domes.

 

[sojourner]

and who is this we? Do you work at JPL or have any background in this area? Have you actually done research in this?

He was quoting the linked article.

 

[Shaw]

and who is this we? Do you work at JPL or have any background in this area? Have you actually done research in this?

He was quoting the linked article.

Oh... okay, so he doesn't know any of this stuff, he just links to things he finds. That makes more sense.

Thanks for the clarification.

I don't click on attached links posted by people I don't know.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Maybe Lake Armstrong is part of a domed settlement or city? That would solve the terraforming problem - if the cities on the Moon are enclosed, they don't have to terraform the whole thing.

 

[shawn12]

Shaw, I have studied astronomy and cosmology in depth for 40 years.

I posted that link because they are the experts on Titan and it was written by Christopher McKay, planetary scientist with the Space Science Division of NASA Ames Research Center.

 

[Sci]

Maybe Lake Armstrong is part of a domed settlement or city? That would solve the terraforming problem - if the cities on the Moon are enclosed, they don't have to terraform the whole thing.

That is exactly what the DS9 episode "Valiant" established.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ But then why would Riker say that you could see Lake Armstrong from Earth, if it was under a dome? Apparently the DS9 writer in question did not check that.

 

[Sci]

^ But then why would Riker say that you could see Lake Armstrong from Earth, if it was under a dome? Apparently the DS9 writer in question did not check that.

Is there any particular reason that dome can't be transparent?

And the DS9 writer in question was Ronald D. Moore, the same guy who co-wrote Star Trek: First Contact.