Asteroid Mining

--- In spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com, "Dan Wylie-Sears"
> > The moon isn't a very big world, but still there is a lot of it.
I
> > suspect it will be over a hundred years before we have a good idea
> > of what there is on AND in it.
>
> The moon doesn't have the geological complexity that earth does.
> There are no volcanoes on the moon, for example. The maria are
> somewhat analogous to oceanic crust on earth: basalt and more
basalt.
> (More precisely, they're probably analogous to flood basalts,
> aka "large igneous provinces".) It takes subduction zones, hot
spots,
> repeated partial melts, and weathering to generate the huge variety
of
> rocks we have here. There's still plenty to learn, but nowhere near
> what one would expect by simply thinking of it as "a world".

Possibly. Possibly not.

WE've barely scratched the surface of the moon. And only have our
planet for a reference. Might still be enough differences to keep us
busy for a hundred years.

I suspect that we will both be long dead before matters are resolved.

Rick Brooks