If you're going to build a Moon base you'd want it to be on the perfect plot of land; after all, there's a heck of a lot of moonscape to choose from. Researchers feel they've got their first pick sorted out. The idea is to be close to the North Pole where there's lots of light and near the suspected ice for the water.
Permanently sunlit areas would provide crucial solar energy for any future Moon settlement, a goal for NASA outlined last year by President George W. Bush. Such sites would also have resort-like temperatures compared with other lunar locations that fluctuate between blistering heat and unfathomable cold.
Equally important, in the permanently shadowed depths of craters around the lunar north pole, water ice may lurk, according to previous but unconfirmed observations.
Melted, it would be vital for drinking. Broken into hydrogen and oxygen, the water could provide breathable air and be used to make rocket fuel for a trip to Mars. That fits in neatly with the White House vision of using the Moon as a stepping stone to Mars.
The best spot to settle on the Moon may be on the northern rim of Peary crater, close to the north pole, says Ben Bussey of Johns Hopkins University. The analysis, to be published in the April 14 issue of the journal Nature, is based on 53 images from the spacecraft Clementine, which orbited the Moon for 71 days in 1994.
Of course, as Robert Heinlien once titled his book, the Moon is a harsh mistress, so she's going to be a tough place to sustain a colony, let alone a base but there are of course possible rewards and riches up there.
A Workable Design
Saharastega and Nigerpeton were amphibians from 250million years ago, a long time before Reptiles ever got their big break in Evolution; and in what is now the Sahara lived these amphibians who happened to share a lot of features with crocodiles:
The species, named Nigerpeton and Saharastega, were found in the Saharan Desert. The region was dry back when the animals were alive, too, but since they were amphibians -- something like giant salamanders -- some water must have been present.
In appearance and behavior, Nigerpeton and Saharastega resembled crocodiles, which are reptiles. Understandably, the croc's body type and predatorial approach seems to have been quite popular, even if you were an amphibian.
"Several fossil groups have converged on the 'crocodilian' body form, as it's well-suited to an amphibious lifestyle," said study leader Christian Sidor of the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine. The discoveries will be detailed in the April 14 issue of the journal Nature.
"The skull of Nigerpeton, in fact, looks a lot like that of a Nile crocodile," Sidor told LiveScience. "The eyes are elevated and positioned far back on the skull, and the snout is very long. The nostrils are also somewhat elevated, so it could breath with its body mostly underwater."
Nigerpeton was about 7-8 feet long, and it "probably ate anything it could get its fangs into, either in the water or land animals that came too close," Sidor said.
Sounds like some of the people I've met in job interviews.
- Art Neuro
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