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re: That's a Big No On The Resource Issue, Maybe On Life
Marsbug — (archived)

The moon has volatiles in it's regolith in concentrations up to 230ppm for carbon and 125ppm for nitrogen. Since one of the most likely origins for these materials is Carbanaceous Chondrite meteorites its very likely not spread evenly throughout the regolith but concentrated in useable deposits, here's a link: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/167/3918/495

Oxygen and hydrogen are abundant there, so we have extractable volatiles and plenty of O and H for making water. I know mars beats the moon hands down for volatiles but I want us to turn away from mars for other reasons I detailed in the previous post, and the moon is a worthy and doable challenge!

I'm happy for the moment to agree to disagree with you on whether we should be looking for life on mars right now, but I will note that in the space exploration 'fanboy' community (including me I need to make clear) the mearest hint of the 'L' word acts like some kind of drug, and everyones sense of reality goes out the window!

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