Michael was quoting me, so I guess I should reply. What I meant was that
there is zero chance of microbes having ever lived on the moon. There is no
evidence of a watery past for the Moon, as there is on Mars. The ice is
probably the remains of a comet impact (a very light impact I imagine, since
those usually generate a lot of heat). Panspermians may believe in microbes
in comets, but I'd bet against it.
BTW, the link to the report I referred to didn't come across in Michael's
text clip. It's
http://cnn.com/TECH/9612/02/moon.life/index.html
P.S. Michael was dead on about the Moon being a good source for He3. That
would require a lot of onsite processing, i.e., people. And I didn't know
you could slow-roast regolith to get oxygen. So now I'm excited about moon
colonies again. Thanks.
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Sean Morgan (sean@lucifer.com)