WATER ON THE MOON: IS BRANSTAD ABOUT TO LAUNCH INTO LUNAR AGRICULTURE?


Tesla Research Labs: Not long ago it was discovered that on the dark side of the moon, near its southern pole is a large amount of ice. Formerly considered a completely dead body with no chance of life due to a complete lack of atmosphere and water, this discovery caused a great deal of hoopla in scientific circles and the media went wild with speculation on where the water came from and what uses it may have.

     The moon is covered with the pock marks of impact craters, and many of these craters were caused by collisions with comets and comet fragments over millions of years. As comets are composed primarily of ice, this is the most likely source of the frozen deposits of water on the moon. Talk of using the water to aid in efforts to colonize the lunar surface is premature, but not so premature or optimistically enthusiastic as a special Lunar Agriculture Feasibility Task Force rumored to be assembled in the State House by the Governor.

     According to an annonymous source, millions of Iowa tax dollars are being funneled covertly into designing a model "Lunar Farm" with huge domes similar to the Biosphere projects. Heaters would melt the ice, the lunar soil would be irrigated and seed coporations are being soliid for competitive bids for what crops would be introduced on the moon. According to the source, Branstad sees this as the perfect solution to such thorny problems currently facing his adminsitration such as hog confinement, bringing industry to Iowa, and corporate pollution.

     Whether the move toward Lunar Farming might result in an independent Iowa Space Agency or not is an interesting point of speculation, but it is still far too early to tell.

    





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