Okay Siro, I'm Ready for Asteroid Mining Now
- Thread starter Gameface
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But forreal, I don't know what the theory is on how it's producing ethyl alcohol or sugar, but on earth you need yeast, a living organism, in order to convert sugar to ethanol.
Maybe it happens in other ways on earth, but I'm not familiar with any of that. Besides, sugar is an organic compound, isn't it?
Maybe it happens in other ways on earth, but I'm not familiar with any of that. Besides, sugar is an organic compound, isn't it?
Sugars make up a whole class of organic molecules. Ethyl alcohol is also an organic molecule. They are related chemically.
This is ehtyl alcohol:
This is glucose:
As you can see, sugar is mostly a bunch of organic alcohols attached to each other in a chain. During the formation of the solar system, carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and other elements combined to form simple compounds like methane and ethene. Those can form more complex organic molecules once exposed to sufficient energy from sun, friction, cosmic rays, etc.
Like I said, anything that can be found on Earth can be found in space in infinite quantities. With the correct mentality, there's no reason the species can't survive, in one shape or another, indefinitely.
This is ehtyl alcohol:
This is glucose:
As you can see, sugar is mostly a bunch of organic alcohols attached to each other in a chain. During the formation of the solar system, carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and other elements combined to form simple compounds like methane and ethene. Those can form more complex organic molecules once exposed to sufficient energy from sun, friction, cosmic rays, etc.
Like I said, anything that can be found on Earth can be found in space in infinite quantities. With the correct mentality, there's no reason the species can't survive, in one shape or another, indefinitely.
Red
Well-Known Member
The Tagish Lake meteorite, which fell in Canada some years ago, is a very primitive carbonaceous chondrite, and at the time, it was thought to possibly be a cometary sample. Lots of carbon chains in this meteorite. I've curated a meteorite collection since the early 80's. Here's a 208mg sample of the Tagish Lake meteorite....
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https://www.astrobio.net/news-exclusive/the-tagish-lake-meteorite/
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https://www.astrobio.net/news-exclusive/the-tagish-lake-meteorite/
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Red
Well-Known Member
The Carbonaceous Chondrites are among the most interesting of meteorites, precisely because they are so rich in carbon and amino acids. The most studied meteorite in history is the Allende meteorite, which fell in Allende, Mexico in 1969. Falling as it did shortly before the American lunar missions, there were a lot of labs set up to study samples from those missions. The result was Allende was almost a test run for those labs. In the first photo of this 378 gm Allende individual meteorite, the black crust is formed during entry. The white inclusions are known as CAI's, Calcium Aluminum inclusions. They originated in a star that went nova prior to the formation of our own solar system. Allende is basically the oldest matter you can hold in your hand, because of those inclusions from another star. Some 4.5 billion years old....
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You can easily see the whitish CAI's in this fragment of Allende. Nothing like holding star dust in your hand!
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You can easily see the whitish CAI's in this fragment of Allende. Nothing like holding star dust in your hand!
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Red
Well-Known Member
I'll show you guys a few more before I retire for the night.
Meteorites can be beautiful. Here is a slice of the Imilac, Chile Pallasite type meteorite, with olivine crystals set in a nickle-iron matrix:
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A slice of the moon. Chunks are knocked off the moon and land on Earth as lunar meteorites. So you too can own a piece of the moon, and it ain't cheap, lol...
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Lunar and Martian meteorites are called Planatary meteorites. Younger then those meteorites that sample the asteroid belt. Here are samples of Zagami, a Mars meteorite that fell in Nigeria in 1962. Gases trapped in this meteorite were found to be an exact match for the atmosphere of Mars. Pretty plain looking for a piece of the "red" planet:
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Slice of Zagami showing burnt fusion crust from atmospheric entry:
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Most people think of iron meteorites when they think of them at all. Here is a individual from the fall of the Sikhote Alin meteorite, which fell in Siberia in 1947. You can see how the metal melted during entry and flowed as it melted. Collectors love seeing flow lines on meteorites:
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Meteorites can be beautiful. Here is a slice of the Imilac, Chile Pallasite type meteorite, with olivine crystals set in a nickle-iron matrix:
View attachment 4462
A slice of the moon. Chunks are knocked off the moon and land on Earth as lunar meteorites. So you too can own a piece of the moon, and it ain't cheap, lol...
View attachment 4463
Lunar and Martian meteorites are called Planatary meteorites. Younger then those meteorites that sample the asteroid belt. Here are samples of Zagami, a Mars meteorite that fell in Nigeria in 1962. Gases trapped in this meteorite were found to be an exact match for the atmosphere of Mars. Pretty plain looking for a piece of the "red" planet:
View attachment 4464
Slice of Zagami showing burnt fusion crust from atmospheric entry:
View attachment 4465
Most people think of iron meteorites when they think of them at all. Here is a individual from the fall of the Sikhote Alin meteorite, which fell in Siberia in 1947. You can see how the metal melted during entry and flowed as it melted. Collectors love seeing flow lines on meteorites:
View attachment 4466
DutchJazzer
Banned
asteroids have climates too.
Stop asteroids climate change
Stop asteroids climate change
Red
Well-Known Member
Yeah, lots more people have taken it up in the years since I first started. It's a very reciprocal relationship between science and collectors. A meteorite's value is determined in part by how rare it's' classification is. So meteorite hunters need to submit samples to labs recognized by the Meteoritical Society. And the lab must be given a % of the find or fall. Collectors in turn exchange new specimens with institutional collections, i.e. museums and universities. Which in turn means more samples distributed to scientists. A number of years ago, the NY Times did a piece claiming the meteorite market was a black market. Boy, did it cause a firestorm.
The truth is the scientists seeking new samples actually depend on professional meteorite hunters, who themselves are often meteorite dealers, depending on collectors. It's all a reciprocal, somewhat symbiotic relationship. Without collectors, no market, no hunters, no new samples provided to science. Nobody, not even meteoriticists, agreed with what the NY Times article suggested. The truth is science would not have even a tiny % of the samples they have, were it not for the existence of a collector's market.
Who would have thought, decades ago, that we could sample Mars without manned missions? And it's a lot of fun trying to tie samples to particular planetary bodies. There is a group of meteorites, for example, that originate from the asteroid Vesta. And a group with the acronym SNC are now known to originate on Mars. Impacts on Mars knock piece off with enough force to escape the gravity field of Mars. They may wander in space for millions of years before crossing our orbit and falling to Earth as meteorites from Mars. And it's the coolest thing to look up into the night sky, see the moon, and know "I've got pieces of that!".
The cold desert of Antartica is a meteorite gold mine, and only scientists are allowed to collect there. The hot desert regions, like the Sahara of Northern Africa is also a gold mine of such samples. Collected by nomads, sold in market to dealers, and distributed to both scientists and collectors.
If you like astronomy, and Planetary geology, it's a great hobby. You really can't enjoy/appreciate what you're collecting without bringing yourself up to speed in meteorite science. The chemistry, the petrology of meteorites, etc. so you are always learning as a result. You don't have to take this approach to collect "space rox", but most collectors do. It's also a great science for seeing just how much info can be extracted from a rock via the testing methods developed. I think it's one of the best hobbies for that reason. I'm fairly strong where the petrology is concerned. The chemistry, on the other hand, can befuddle me at times; it's not my strength.....
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RandyForRubio
Well-Known Member
Legit thought this was gonna be a thread about butt sex.
Who says it isn't?
Joe Bagadonuts
Well-Known Member
Yeah, Siro and Gameface are planning a mission to Uranus.
Shhh. It just means our code is working.