From Nobel Prize to War with the Moon

Last week's headlines were abuzz with news of President Obama's Nobel Peace Prize award. While I think it was premature, I found the timing extremely ironic given the NASA expedition to "impact" not explode rockets into the surface of the moon.

Experts like Christian Science Monitor assures us the intentional detonation was the moon's equivalent of a mere flesh wound.

How would the moon have felt about it? It’s hard to ask an inanimate, non-sentient object. But using Sir Isaac Newton’s action-reaction law — the one that describes why a rocket moves one direction when its exhaust flows out the back in the opposite direction — researchers estimate that the two collisions combined would have the same effect on the moon that dropping an eyelash in the aisle would have on the speed and direction of a Boeing 747.

All this in the hunt for ice water reservoirs in hopes that the moon can support life. Scientists expect the impact would release a huge plume of moon dust and debris. The moon dust blast should be large enough for amateur scientists to view from Earth through normal telescopes.

All this lunar activity has caused an uproar. Numerous petitions to stop the moon bombing pop up everywhere like this one.

Time will tell if the impact of rocket Centaur will have a repercussions on the moon and the lunar bodies surrounding it. Will it throw off the tidal pull or monthly moon cycles? What about its relationship to the zodiacal sister planet? and astrology in general? Time and the moon herself will tell.