{"id":310,"date":"2009-06-18T10:26:17","date_gmt":"2009-06-18T10:26:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress65\/?p=310"},"modified":"2009-06-18T10:26:17","modified_gmt":"2009-06-18T10:26:17","slug":"lcross-and-hazards-writing-near-future-science-fiction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grayrinehart.com\/blog\/lcross-and-hazards-writing-near-future-science-fiction\/","title":{"rendered":"LCROSS, and the Hazards of Writing Near-Future Science Fiction"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today the LCROSS (Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite) is supposed to launch on an Atlas-V rocket, along with the LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter). LCROSS is specifically designed to check for water in shadowed craters at the lunar south pole.<\/p>\n

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(Artist’s conception of LCROSS approach to the moon, from http:\/\/lcross.arc.nasa.gov\/<\/a>. Click to enlarge.)<\/em><\/p>\n

The mission profile involves crashing the Centaur upper stage into an as-yet-undetermined crater, with the LCROSS vehicle and its sensors following close behind. Not only will LCROSS itself examine the ejecta for signs of water, but the debris from the impact is expected to rise high enough above the moon’s surface to be visible to earth-based instruments as well. Analysis should show whether hydrogen detected by previous missions (e.g., Clementine) is in the form of water.<\/p>\n

Why does this demonstrate the hazards of writing near-future SF? Because I know of a novel — written by me, for which I’m trying to find a publisher and an agent — in which a major part of the plot is a difficult journey to the lunar south pole to retrieve ice to keep the fledgling colony alive.<\/p>\n

The LCROSS mission could either lend credence to my treatment of lunar conditions, or it could make the novel much more fiction than science. So here’s what I would like:<\/p>\n