SpaeCor News

Well I guess I can add another to my list of reasons to return to the moon. The moon may not be the barren wasteland that the Apollo missions stated it to be those many years ago. Satellite imaging has confirmed the presence of H2O in some form or another on the moon. This is a huge discovery and may very well turn around 40 years of assumptions that the moon is barren.

The water may not be as you may think though. The H2O molecule is believe to be mixed in with the dirt much like in the Arizona desert. Even the most Arid of climates can harbor some form or another of water.


Now that we’ve confirmed water on mars which is a year away we discover water on the moon which is only days! It seems that we have gone about our search for water in the wrong ways when we should have much more extensively looked at the moon. It is interesting though why this is being discovered now what with The Google Lunar X only months away from launching.

You may have heard about a little competition called the Lunar X prize. Well its basically a competition backed by Google where teams from around the world compete to probe the moon and send back HD video content back to earth. The teams have been getting ready for the competition for many years now and its scheduled to begin in the year 2010. In light of the recent water on the moon discovery more media and public attention may be focused on the moon and this competition. Which leads me to wonder if this is only just a publicity stunt. Whatever it may be I think it can only do good for the Lunar X prize, and prove that even a barren wasteland can have an oasis.

1. National Security: A lot more countries are looking to the stars these days and beginning to become spacefaring nations. Countries such as China and India are newly entering space while Japan and Russia are planning more space missions. All of these countries have their eye on the moon. Many Americans still fear communism and what would happen if China were the first to establish a base on the moon.

2. Resources: The moon is not so much a barren wasteland as the original Apollo missions claimed it to be. The Presence of PGM’s(Platinum Group Metals) may trigger a moon rush. Platinum is the most rare and valuable metal on the planet, and the moon may have an abundant amount of PGM’s deposited by asteroids over millions of years. The moon dust (Regolith) also possesses multiple minerals and even includes oxygen. The moon dust can be broken down into its components and used for building bases on the moon.

3. Exploration: There has been many debates on what process would be used to colonize space. One side of the debate is we should head straight for mars because of its likeness to earth and it would be easier to colonize. The other side of the debate is that the moon should be used as a gateway to mars. Its better to get experience on a celestial body that is only days instead of months or even years away.

4. The Economy: lets not sugarcoat it the economy is going to crap. The only way we were dragged out of the depression was from the world wars and a greater push to industrialism. Today the economy is experiencing the same stagnation and needs to move to a new realm of economic stability. This stability will come from space exploration and development. It will Create millions of jobs in electronics, and even create entirely new jobs the world has yet to see.

What is this unknown company and why is it suddenly so important? Well, as it turns out Moog is an aerospace manufacturing company that chose Space Port America for its testing site. Working in conjunction with UP Aerospace Moog launched its test rocket using UP’s Launch systems. While the flights were not successful in nature it created much needed data for engineers to work with.

Although I am embarrassed to admit I’ve never heard of Moog until today, but the company is actually very large and covers multiple sectors of the economy. Moog covers Aerospace, Energy, Industrial Technology and even Medical Tech just to name a few of their markets. Throughout these markets Moog specializes in motion control.

(To learn more about Moog you can visit their website by checking out my space companies tab.)

Moog’s demonstration is an important step for Space Port America’s survival. If Space Port America hopes to be successful it must not only attract tourism but be a bed for innovation and future space travel testing. The absence of red tape that is usually a pain when dealing with military establishments makes Space Port America much more hospitable towards innovation, hopefully pushing America into a much more involved space future.

Space Port America is slated to finish construction at the end of 2011. Hopefully with the influx of space tourism, Moog will be a leader in a much larger job market for the state of New Mexico. Not only will hotels and tourist activities be built but maybe even a larger community will blossom to support testing facilities and high tech industry. If your looking for a place to invest I would have my money in New Mexico.