Mining craters? (was: Lunascaping :)

--- In ssi_list@... Lucio de Souza Coelho

>
> But that raised a thought that I have another day. Aren't lunar
craters prone
> to be mining sites in the Moon? I mean, since craters were formed
by the
> impact of asteroids, isn't the bottom of a crater likely to have
ores - for
> instance, if the impactor was a nickel-iron asteroid? A similar
reasoning can
> perhaps be applied to rays of crater ejecta, which could
potentially be
> "veins" of ore.

You make a very good point. It makes sense to me.

My recollection is that none of the Apollo missions collected data
on crater composition. Is that right? It was all mare and highlands
geology.

Were there any lunar probes that spectroscopically mapped the
composition of the craters? Do we have know anything more definitive
about crater composition than the theoretical model you mentioned?

>
> If my intuitive reasoning above makes some sense, in the long-term
(i.e.,
> after those "lunar asteroid mines" are found) the inner side of
many craters
> would probably become mining sites rather than parks, and that
would be much
> uglier than an industrial landscape. :-)
>
> Lucio

Well no matter where you situate your base, the mining pit is going
to be nearby.

If it's on a mare, you'll have a big open pit mine.

If you're in the crtater, at least now you have the option of
digging into the crater wall, as well as the crater bottom. That
could hide some of scope of the ugliness by going underground.

Of course, you could base on the crater rim, and do all of the
mining within the crater.

Nevertheless, I feel that you've raised an interesting point here. I
hope someone can provide the answers.

TangoMan