The obvious project worthy of such funding is crystallization in ultra low gravity. Perfectly formed crystals are priceless and the basis for advances in structural biology. Crystal growth on the ISS, in orbit 254 miles above the Earth, is considered growth in microgravity. Now consider the Moon, at 238,855 miles from Earth, where Earth's gravity, obeying the inverse square law, is much weaker. Moving facilities from one massive body (the Earth) to another with its own gravity (the Moon), at great expense, may not seem a good idea at first blush. Now consider tunneling to the center of the Moon, whose core is solid, and excavating a hollow, spherical cavity to house the crystallization lab. One elegantly escapes the influence of lunar gravity.
Space X and the Boring Company are one step ahead of us, of course, and have already begun this 'PicoGrav' program on the dark side of the moon. This note is meant to save everyone the trouble of putting together an application. History has shown that competing against industry is a losing strategy - the Human Genome Project being a fine example. Stay tuned for updates from the astro-engineer on the Moon in charge of the project, Major Tom. If you're lucky, you can enjoy a Space X resupply mission flyby of the ISS on its way to the Moon on one of the ISS webcams at -https://www.webcamtaxi.com/en/space/earth-live-cam1.html Just the messanger, Pete ######################################################################## To unsubscribe from the CCP4BB list, click the following link: https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/WA-JISC.exe?SUBED1=CCP4BB&A=1 This message was issued to members of www.jiscmail.ac.uk/CCP4BB, a mailing list hosted by www.jiscmail.ac.uk, terms & conditions are available at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/policyandsecurity/
