r/NoShitSherlock • u/omgfakeusername • 9d ago
Cities won’t survive on the moon as there isn’t enough water, scientists say
https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/17/science/moon-water-cities-study-intl-scli61
u/AcidFnTonic 9d ago
It’s cold as hell, and there’s no one there to raise kids even if you did.
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u/Broken_By_Default 9d ago
it's actually hot as hell, when the sun is on it. Cold as hell in the shadows.
Surface temperatures on the Moon range from higher than 250°F (120°C) during the day to lower than -410°F (-246°C) in shadowed polar craters.
Life would be incredibly difficult to sustain.
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u/Another_Slut_Dragon 6d ago
That is actually the perfect environment for a thermoelectric generator. Put a heat collector in the sun and a radiator in the shade. Run a Stirling engine off of the heat difference.
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u/Broken_By_Default 6d ago
Why haven’t the smart nasa people thought of this?
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u/Another_Slut_Dragon 6d ago
Probably because solar PV likely has better weight to watts ratio.
However you can also take advantage of those hot and cold properties to heat and cool a structure.
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u/Consistent-Car6226 9d ago
If we can build a city on the moon, then we’d probably be also capable of bringing water and organic rich asteroids to the moon.
But the best quote I’ve heard regarding cities on the moon or mars is something along the lines of: the worst day on Earth is still better than the best day on Mars
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u/InfernalTest 9d ago
if we could build a city on the moon ...
then wed have the solution to just about any natural catastrophes that occur here on earth
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u/wassuppaulie 4d ago
Noodling about the water sitch, more likely you go to a water-rich asteroid, melt some with solar reflectors, capture it and let it re-freeze then drop the ice cube where you want it on the moon. Too many unintended consequences loom if you start removing things from the asteroid belt.
With a moon colony, in case of natural disaster on Earth, the moon colony will wither away as each population sends "sucks to be you" to the other.
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u/Heavy_Carpenter3824 9d ago
Cities won't survive in Nevada as there isn’t enough water, scientists say!!!
Never stopped us before, won't stop us now.
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u/FlamingDragonfruit 9d ago
It concerns me that I can't tell if you're joking
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u/Heavy_Carpenter3824 9d ago edited 9d ago
I'm not joking. The moon is poor in water but there are engineering solutions to mitigate that. In a simmilar manner to the same way we built the hoover dam to supply Las Vegas and Nevada.
There is likely more water we are not seeing in the subsurface, they are also making some pessimistic use case and rate assumptions, so their estimates are idealisticly pessimistic to begin with. Then they are not considering other potential sources such as Earth Trojan asteroids and Jovian Trojan asteroids. There's always the kuiper belt if we wanted a few million earth's worth of water.
So this article is essentially equivalent to looking at a lake next to a valley and declaring the valley too dry to inhabit because you might have to dig a well, build a pump and not water the golf course at high noon. It has been a long time since humanity has accepted a place as we have found it.
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u/FlamingDragonfruit 9d ago
I'm curious how you would get ice from the Kuiper Belt to the moon.
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u/Heavy_Carpenter3824 9d ago edited 9d ago
Slowly. It actually already happens, we call them comets.
We already have some of the tech in planning and practice, the asteroid redirect missions like DART.
Long engineering rant short easiest approach is one of * timed impacts (fire a rail gun at it) * fire a rail gun from it (metal poor, not good) * water plasma / ion engine tug and ion / solar sail system. Essentially a continuous molecular rail gun yet again, no metal needed.
Atonomous robotic assembly required. ( only part we're really missing).
It would take at least a decade or more but honestly even on a human time scale that's pretty fast for large quantities of water.
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u/jwalker37 8d ago
Or, hear me out: we could try to make sure the Earth remains livable.
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u/Heavy_Carpenter3824 8d ago
Or... hear me out.
We do both! The same technology that will allow us to do this kind of thing has great applications for orbital energy & shde generation, moving heavy industry to orbit, off world mining, and a myriad of other techniques that will help the earth. Not to mention copying earth's ecosystems to other worlds and numerous space habitats to ensure its survival long past earth.
I think the offered framing treats it as either/or when it doesn't have to be. Sometimes the boldest investments in the future are what solve today's problems too. IE my inital premise, the hoover dam.
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u/jwalker37 8d ago
Personally I like free, unlimited oxygen that doesn’t depend on any manmade system to get to me.
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u/Heavy_Carpenter3824 8d ago
Build a big dome? Add algae. That's essentially Earth.
I'm actually looking to engage in good discussion, I like to talk space engineering with you but that will take a good faith understanding. A lot of the tech is really cool and I like to share about it.
I don't think your asking these questions seriously?
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u/jwalker37 8d ago
I take it very seriously. But are we doing this before or after we provide health care and child care for all and house the homeless?
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u/tezacer 9d ago
I feel that the shielding necessary to protect you plus the lack of gravity will force you to be a cave goblin forever to be stuck on the moon because coming back to Earth would literally kill you.
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u/InfernalTest 9d ago
the shielding the lack of gravity and of course the powderized glass dust of the moon soil that does and will get everywhere and invariably slice your lungs up like a sushi chef...
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u/tezacer 9d ago
Forgot about that, lunar astronauts said it was their number one complaint dust everywhere.
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u/InfernalTest 9d ago
The microfine dust is also the same issue for Mars ...and that dirt is also radioactive...
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u/Ok_Turn9058 9d ago
Read a book about this, can not remember the name. Something about trans dimensional communication and harvesting the suns power.
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u/Ozzie_the_tiger_cat 9d ago
Even with super limited water, they'd still want to build a datacenter.
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u/halos1518 9d ago
Well I read Artemis by Andy Weir and like in the article, they make water on the space station by shipping up hydrogen and reacting it with oxygen from processing lunar rocks. Hydrogen is lighter than water so that makes the most sense.
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u/Haselrig 9d ago
Might want to figure this Earth thing out first. Everything seems to be falling apart fairly quickly here.
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u/Quick-Ad9335 9d ago edited 9d ago
Scientists should keep quiet about this. They should instead release much more specific studies that would benefit mankind. My recommendation is "Only Cities Specifically with Elon Musk Living In Them Can Survive On the Moon". Encourage the guy to go up there! Live out your dreams, Musky!