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Old English mona, from Proto-Germanic *menon- (cf. Old Saxon and Old High German mano, Old Frisian mona, Old Norse mani, Danish maane, Dutch maan, German Mond, Gothic mena "moon"), from PIE *me(n)ses- "moon, month" (cf. Sanskrit masah "moon, month;" Avestan ma, Persian mah, Armenian mis "month;" Greek mene "moon," men "month;" Latin mensis "month;" Old Church Slavonic meseci, Lithuanian menesis "moon, month;" Old Irish mi, Welsh mis, Breton miz "month"), probably from root *me- "to measure," in reference to the moon's phases as the measure of time.

A masculine noun in Old English. In Greek, Italic, Celtic, Armenian the cognate words now mean only "month." Greek selene (Lesbian selanna) is from selas "light, brightness (of heavenly bodies)." Old Norse also had tungl "moon," ("replacing mani in prose" - Buck), evidently an older Germanic word for "heavenly body," cognate with Gothic tuggl, Old English tungol "heavenly body, constellation," of unknown origin or connection. Hence Old Norse tunglfylling "lunation," tunglrr "lunatic" (adj.).

Extended 1665 to satellites of other planets. To shoot the moon "leave without paying rent" is British slang from c.1823; card-playing sense perhaps influenced by gambler's shoot the works (1922) "go for broke" in shooting dice. The moon race and the U.S. space program of the 1960s inspired a number of coinages, including, from those skeptical of the benefits to be gained, moondoggle (cf. boondoggle). The man in the moon is mentioned since early 14c.; he carries a bundle of thorn-twigs and is accompanied by a dog. Some Japanese, however, see a rice-cake-making rabbit in the moon.

c.1600, "to expose to moonlight;" later "idle about" (1836), "move listlessly" (1848), probably on notion of being moonstruck. The meaning "to flash the buttocks" is first recorded 1968, U.S. student slang, from moon (n.) "buttocks" (1756), "probably from the idea of pale circularity" [Ayto]. See moon (n.). Related: Mooned; mooning.

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Moon | Define Moon at Dictionary.com

Commercial space missions, colonies on Mars and finding a way for the tourists of the future to book round-trip flights to the Moon were among the out-of-this-world ideas being discussed by brainiacs yesterday at a Massachusetts Institute of Technology forum aimed at helping private companies get a foothold in what could be a budding multibillion dollar economy.

The universitys second annual New Space Age Conference focused on getting out in front of the space race of the new millennium, which is being fueled by private companies looking to create and expand a brand new commercial market for space travel.

Aside from making space travel affordable for the public, one of the hot topics at yesterdays forum was the ongoing effort to land astronauts on Mars and the technology that would be required before a human could set foot on the Red Planet.

Among the challenges facing future Mars-bound astronauts will be dealing with radiation exposure, developing better propulsion systems that will allow them to complete the journey, which would currently take eight months, and creating equipment reliable enough to withstand the journey.

If we had all these things, we can just do it, said Jeffrey Hoffman, a former NASA astronaut and MIT professor. Theres a lot of challenges ahead.

Hoffman, who serves as the deputy principal investigator of an experiment aiming to produce oxygen from extraterrestrial material for NASAs Mars 2020 mission, said finding a way to get there is one thing but finding a way to create a self-sustainable colony will be exponentially more difficult.

The level of skills well need will be much broader, Hoffman said. Well need a lot of MacGyvers up there.

Keegan Kirkpatrick, an aerospace engineer and founder of RedWorks, said in order for humans to truly become interplanetary, future astronauts will have to cut the cord completely.

Mars has to operate independently from Earth, he said. Colonization is a question of high value and low cost. You have to have a lot of people to support a large diverse economy. Mars has to achieve resource independence. This was key to the colonization of the Americas.

And when it comes to funding such an ambitious expedition, scientists gathered yesterday agreed its going to take a partnership between government and private companies.

It would be prohibitively expensive, Hoffman said, noting the $20 billion Apollo 11 mission that sent man to the moon in 1969 would cost $150 billion today.

If the government is sponsoring an expedition and something goes wrong, they get holed up in the halls of Congress. If a private company gets into an accident, they answer to shareholders, Hoffman said. Its going to take a public-private partnership.

The university will host another daylong seminar today, titled Beyond the Cradle: Envisioning a New Space Age, which will focus on how to adapt our culture for people that may never call Earth home and how to develop the habitats, spacecraft and innovations of the future.

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Travel to the Red Planet is the next big biz (ad)venture - Boston Herald

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After The Washington Post obtained a copy of the confidential white paper that Bezos space company Blue Origin is passing on to Trumps transition team, the company verified its authenticity. And while Elon Musks SpaceX rushes to beat Trumps own lunar ambitions, Bezos is focused on the logistics of something a little more permanent than private sightseeing excursions.

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Blue Origin want to deliver cargo to the moon, paving the way for sustained human colonization of our natural satellite. Theyve even picked a spot for this potential real estate a cheery little crater near the moons south pole, with access to water via ice hidden in the craters shadows, and enough consistent sunlight to make use of solar energy.

The thought of lunar expansion hasmanaged to whet the appetites of several companies, who are already offering their own ideas for involvement. One such example is Bigelow Aerospace. Its founder, Robert Bigelow, wants to adapt the design of their BEAM habitat, currently docked with the International Space Station. He wants to create an orbital depot to house supplies and medical facilities.

According to Bigelow, venturing toward Mars is premature. As for the moon? Bigelow asserts that We have the technology. We have the ability, and the potential for a terrific business case. For his part, Bezos believes that if you go to the moon first, and make the moon your home, then you can get to Mars more easily.

Bezos says that this projectonly be done in partnership with NASA, and believes that [Blue Origins] liquid hydrogen expertise and experience with precision vertical landing offer the fastest path to a lunar lander mission. He is personally excited about this, to the point of investing his own money alongside NASA,to make sure they get there.

Blue Moon is all about cost-effective delivery of mass to the surface of the Moon, according to the Amazon boss. Any credible first lunar settlement will require that capability But all of this is just the beginning of Blue Origins ambitions. Their first proposed mission hopes to be just the first in a series of increasingly capable missions.

Well have to wait to see whether President Trump and his advisors are as excited about the possibilities as Bezos himself.

Follow Nate Church @Get2Church on Twitter for the latest news in gaming and technology, and snarky opinions on both.

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Jeff Bezos Wants to Improve Amazon Delivery Service... to the Moon ... - Breitbart News

It seems like the world has caught a case of moon fever.

On February 27, tech entrepreneur Elon Musk announced that two unnamed people are paying his rocket company, SpaceX, to send them on an auto-piloted trip around the moon in 2018. Later The Washington Post revealed that Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos and his own rocket company, Blue Origin, had circulated a 2020 moon colonization plan around Capitol Hill.

But its not just a gaggle of billionaires whove set their sights on Luna. On Tuesday, Congress passed its first big NASA budget in nearly 7 years. The bill calls on NASA to reach the moon by 2021.

To bring everything back to Earth a little, we called up Jim Lovell: an astronaut who visited the moon twice, once during Apollo 8 (the first crewed lunar mission) and again on Apollo 13 (which required a storied effort to rescue from disaster).

During a wide-ranging interview, we asked Lovell if there was a moment on Apollo 8 that he wished he spoke more about and his response floored us.

But first, a little setup.

Apollo 8, which launched aboard a gigantic Saturn V rocket on December 21, 1968, took off during what Lovell called a hilarious time for the planet.

There was the Vietnam War going on, it was not a popular war, especially with the younger people, Lovell told Business Insider. There were riots, there were two assassinations of prominent people during that period, and so things were looking kind of bad in this country.

And yet at the end of the year, he said, NASA was working toward its commitment, made in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy, to send people to the moon before the end of that decade.

And it happened. So in the last few weeks or days of 1968 we accomplished something that we set out to do that was favourable and approved by just about every body in this country, he said.

However, Lovell said that he and his two crewmates, Frank Borman and Bill Anders, soon realised it was more than just a spaceflight.

You have to remember we brought back a picture of the Earth as it is 240,000 miles away. And the fact is, it gives you a different perspective of the Earth when you see it as three-dimensional between the sun and the moon, and you begin to realise how small and how significant the body is, he said. When I put my thumb up to the window I could completely hide it, and then I realised that behind my thumb that Im hiding this Earth, and there are about 6 billion people that are all striving to live there.

Lovell said this moment was a seed being planted, and one that would germinate into full blossom once he was back on Earth.

You have to really kind of think about our own existence here in the universe. You realise that people often say, I hope to go to heaven when I die,' he said. In reality, if you think about it, you go to heaven when youre born.

By this Lovell meant the remarkable situation we find ourselves in: floating on a cosy rock that is drifting through the seemingly endless void of space.

You arrive on a planet that has the proper mass, has the gravity to contain water and an atmosphere, which are the very essentials for life, he said. And you arrive on this planet thats orbiting a star just at the right distance not too far to be too cold, or too close to be too hot and just at the right distance to absorb that stars energy and then, with that energy, cause life to evolve here in the first place.

In reality, you know, God has really given us a stage, just looking at where we were around the moon, a stage on which we perform. And how that play turns out is up to us, I guess, he said.

Trapped on a cosmic stage together, and at a time when the US is again painfully divided, Lovells words are ones we could all take to heart.

Disclosure: Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post and is an investor in Business Insider through his personal investment company Bezos Expeditions.

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Apollo astronaut: 'You go to heaven when you are born' - Business Insider Australia