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The Lunar Rush Is On, With Plans to Mine Helium-3
Rare Gas Sets Off
a Lunar Rush
Mar 23, 2024 7:30 AM CDT

Rare Gas Sets Off a Lunar Rush

Startup Interlune plans to mine the moon for helium-3, estimated to be worth $4 billion per ton

(Newser) - Like many private companies, Interlune is seeing dollar signs in the night sky—and now its plans to extract a rare gas from the moon has a timeline. Per Ars Technica , there's an abundance of helium-3 that can hypothetically be extracted from the moon and transported back home, and...

Railroad on the Moon? It May Be in the Works

Northrop Grumman enlisted to explore construction, costs, and risks

(Newser) - Now that scientists have some ideas about how to build roads on the moon , focus is turning to a potential lunar railroad. The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) envisions a future in which a network of rails covers the lunar surface, transporting humans, resources, and supplies from one...

'After Several Tense Days,' Moon Lander Is Alive Again

Following a rough landing, Japan's SLIM finally draws enough solar power to function once more

(Newser) - A Japanese moon explorer is up and running Monday after several tense days without the sunlight it needs to generate power. Japan's first lunar mission hit its target in a precision touchdown on Jan. 20, but it landed the wrong way up , leaving its solar panels unable to see...

There's Water All Over the Moon
There's Water
All Over the Moon
NEW STUDY
Mar 28, 2023 12:03 PM CDT

There's Water All Over the Moon

Researchers in China find H2O can be pulled from heated impact beads

(Newser) - New research suggests trillions of gallons of water are spread across the moon—which should be great news for those planning a lunar colony. Though NASA plans to search for water ice at the lunar south pole, there are signs that water isn't restricted to the poles but is...

NASA Requests Return of Its Dead Roaches

Agency stops auction sale of experiment items, including moon dust collected in 1969

(Newser) - Unwilling to let another historic item pass out of its hands , NASA has intervened in the auction of some dead cockroaches. As the AP reports, Boston-based RR Auction was offering 40 milligrams of moon dust collected during the 1969 Apollo 11 mission that had been fed to and then extracted...

At Auction: Moon Dust Collected by Neil Armstrong

It'll be quite a payday for Illinois collector Nancy Lee Carlson

(Newser) - A rare piece—or rather pieces—of space history are about to go to the highest bidder. Five samples of moon dust collected by Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, during the 1969 Apollo 11 mission will be sold at a Bonhams auction on Wednesday. Thought...

Bag of Moon Dust That NASA Lost Could Fetch $4M
NASA's Goof Could Mean $4M
Windfall for Illinois Woman
in case you missed it
May 27, 2017 12:55 PM CDT

NASA's Goof Could Mean $4M Windfall for Illinois Woman

Bag from Apollo 11 will be auctioned July 20, ending the drama

(Newser) - Only one man was able to be the very first to walk on the moon. Now, an auction that's just as singular. On July 20, Sotheby's will auction a bag containing traces of moon dust, which a Chicago-area woman picked up for $995 and which is expected to...

The Poor Moon Is Pummeled Way More Than We Thought

Study finds it gets a 'facelift' much more quickly than expected

(Newser) - A steady pounding by meteors, comets, and other space rocks gives the moon a high-power facelift—every 81,000 years. A new study published in Nature finds that pummeling reworks about the top inch of the entire lunar surface over that period, which happens to be "more than a...

NASA Finds Lots of Water on Moon

Rocket probe discovers large amounts of ice

(Newser) - A NASA probe has turned up water on the moon. Lots of water. “We practically tasted it with the impact,” said a geologist. The discovery—made last month after the space agency blasted the probe into the moon to study the debris—raises the chances of one day...

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