Thought this one was funny......The United States planned to hit the Moon with a nuclear bomb during the Cold War, according to reports.

 

Physicist Leonard Reiffel, who was involved with the project, said it would have intimidated the Soviet Union and given the US a morale boost after the Russians successfully launched Sputnik in 1957. Reiffel went on to serve as deputy director at Nasa.

 

I can just imagine that brainstorming session...

 

Guys, we need a response to this Russian Sputnik, any ideas???

 

How about we Nuke the Moon :LMAO:

 

http://www.stuff.co....-plans-revealed

I remember reading about this as a kid, and didn't think much of it. It just seemed that the people back then didn't have anything close to the type of distrust of nuclear technology we have today; and I actually remember a model of a proposed nuclear powered car a relative gave me that didn't seem even remotely controversial at the time.

 

Interestingly enough, the concept of nuclear cars has returned as a serious option, with the advent of the Thorium laser (the science seems iffy, though)

 

I also remember proposals for nuclear planes and rockets too, but it seems that in the end, even the old timers were not quite that reckless. (At least not in earths atmosphere)

 

Our grand-kids will probably look back at our heedless face-dive into nanotech (check out the grey goo scenarios) with the same bemusement.

I wish I had a nuclear car! This $4.00 gas is killing me here.

Funny I was just thinking about nuclear cars earlier today. Wasn't sure how it would work exactly. Steam is great so boil water with the nuclear reaction and power the wheels

 

Kind of like a high tech locomotive, you know, converging technologies. :lol:

 

Wait. Wrong thread.

That'll show those Mooninites...

Funny I was just thinking about nuclear cars earlier today. Wasn't sure how it would work exactly. Steam is great so boil water with the nuclear reaction and power the wheels

 

Kind of like a high tech locomotive, you know, converging technologies. :lol:

 

Hey if it works for an aircraft carrier . Lots of things still use steam as a way to turn heat into mechanical power.

Actually Curiosity (the new Mars rover) is pretty much a nuclear powered car. AFAIK it uses heat from nuclear decay and converts that directly into electricity via a thermo-electric effect. Not the same as having a nuclear reactor in your car though. Probably also doesn't deliver the same amount of horsepower either.

It would of been nice if they added a few more details for someone who does not know what the moon does to the Earth. It gives us the tides and balances it out. It's known that the moon is moving away from Earth about an inch a year causing the planets rotation to slow. Do you remember adding a second a couple years ago at the start of the New Year at midnight? Well, we have to add one second every 100 years. Sure, it's many many years away when the planet stops moving.

I think there will be no life on earth long before the moon has a chance to escape. Won't the sun be swallowing us by then?

I think there will be no life on earth long before the moon has a chance to escape. Won't the sun be swallowing us by then?

 

Which will occur first?

Here's a fact that may surprise some of you.....

 

The gravitational force exerted on the Moon by the Sun is roughly twice that of Earth, and yet the Moon still orbits our planet.

I wish I had a nuclear car! This $4.00 gas is killing me here.

 

Quit your whining, up here we pay $9.60 a gallon! :lol:

It would of been nice if they added a few more details for someone who does not know what the moon does to the Earth. It gives us the tides and balances it out. It's known that the moon is moving away from Earth about an inch a year causing the planets rotation to slow. Do you remember adding a second a couple years ago at the start of the New Year at midnight? Well, we have to add one second every 100 years. Sure, it's many many years away when the planet stops moving.

 

Ok, I have done some searching, and everything I can find seems to indicate that the sun will fry the earth long before the moon could escape, and in fact the moon is not going to escape anyway. Earth and the moon will reach equilibrium through orbital resonance (the length of the earths day and the moons month will become equal) and the moon will cease receding in approx 50 billion years.

 

The sun eats the earth and moon in about 7 billion years, unless we move them. (And makes earth uninhabitable quite a bit before that)

 

Planets are great cradles for life, but they are not safe to stay on. We need to get off!!!

Hi Devon,

 

Earth and the moon will reach equilibrium through orbital resonance (the length of the earths day and the moons month will become equal) and the moon will cease receding in approx 50 billion years.

 

In early the 50's astronomy before computers, they had the moon drifting off into the cosmos and I've read they even thought of a colony on the moon to 'hitch' a ride - more fi than sci I think, but it was the foundation for that early scifi series about a moon base and stored nuclear material which detonated and sent the moon out of orbit and into deep space.

 

BTW, if the moon and earth would happen to survive until they reach orbital resonance the earth will also cease to rotate. Of course it really won't matter much, since the earth and moon will both be located in the suns atmosphere and will be toast to say the least.

 

As you so accurately stated, the human race needs to expand our horizons and spread out some. We are like sitting ducks on a small pond.

 

Nuke the moon? Yeh, that's the ticket. We'll show those Russian! Uh, . . . wait, nobody would be able to see that would they? I know, why don't we send a few good men, they can take pictures and bring back stuff. We'll just put them on the nose of the rocket instead of the nuke, . . . . . and history his made.

 

Mel

The gravitational force exerted on the Moon by the Sun is roughly twice that of Earth, and yet the Moon still orbits our planet.

 

A cosmic dance.