Scientists had the same reaction as you probably did when they came to this conclusion. That shouldn’t be possible – after all, there is no oxygen oxygen on the moon, one of the two essential elements to create rust, the other is water.
But the evidence was there.
India’s lunar probe, Chandrayaan-1, orbited the moon in 2008, collecting data that has led to numerous discoveries over the years – including the discovery of water molecules on its surface. The probe also included a device built by NASA that could analyze the lunar mineral composition.
When researchers at NASA and the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology recently analyzed the data, they were stunned to find signs of hematite, a form of iron oxide known as rust. There are plenty of iron-rich rocks on the moon – but rust is only produced when iron is in contact with oxygen and water.
Not only is there no air on the moon, but it is filled with hydrogen flowing from the sun, driven by the solar wind. Rust is produced when oxygen removes electrons from iron; Hydrogen does the opposite by adding electrons, which means it’s hard to rust on a hydrogen-rich moon.
After months of research, Lee and NASA scientists think they’ve broken it – and the answer to the mystery lies in our own planet.
Here is his theory
One key clue was that the rust next to the moon was more concentrated facing the earth – indicating that it was somehow connected to our planet.
The earth is enclosed in a magnetic field, and the solar wind pulls these bubbles to form a long magnetic tail in the downwind direction. The moon enters this tail three days before it fills up, and it takes six days to cross the tail and exit the other side.
And, Lee speculates, oxygen from Earth travels on this magnetic tail to land on the moon, where it interacts with lunar water molecules to form rust.
During a full moon the magnetic tail blocks almost all solar wind – meaning the moon is temporarily shielded from an explosion of hydrogen, which opens a window for the formation of rust.
He added, “This discovery will reshape our knowledge of the lunar polar regions.” “Earth must have played an important role in the evolution of the lunar surface.”
This theory could also explain why corrosion has been observed on other airless bodies, such as asteroids. “It could also be that the effect of a few pieces of water and dust particles is allowing the iron in this body to corrode,” Freeman said.
But some questions remain unanswered – for example, although most of the rust was found in the vicinity of the moon, some small traces were also found on its smaller side, where the earth’s oxygen should not be able to reach. It is still unclear exactly how water on the moon comes in contact with the rock.
To collect more data for these unsolved mysteries, NASA is building a new version of the tool that has collected all this existing information about the lunar mineral composition. One of these features will be able to map water ice on the lunar crater – and “may also reveal new details about hematite,” NASA said in a release.
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