The reaction of the scientists was the same as you probably did when they came to this conclusion. This may not be possible – after all, the moon has no oxygen, one of the two essential elements for rust, and the other is water.
But there was evidence.
India’s lunar investigation, Chandrayaan-1, visited the moon in 2006 and collected data that led to many discoveries over the years – including the discovery of water molecules on its surface. The probe also included a NASA-built instrument that could analyze the moon’s mineral composition.
When researchers from NASA and the Aerospace Institute of Geophysical Science and Planetology recently analyzed data, they were surprised to find traces of iron oxide, a forest known as a sign of hematite. Comes.
The moon not only has air, it is filled with hydrogen flowing from the sun powered by solar wind. Rust occurs when oxygen removes electrons from the iron; Hydrogen does the opposite by combining electrons which means hydrogen is the hardest to rust on a full moon.
After months of research, Lee and NASA scientists think they’ve cracked it – and the answer lies on our own planet.
This is their policy
One big clue is that the moon has become denser towards the Earth’s face – this means that it was somehow connected to our planet.
The earth spreads out in a magnetic field, and the solar wind pulls the bubble in a compressed direction to form a long magnetic tail. The moon enters this tail three days before the end and takes six days to cross the tail and depart from the other direction.
And, Lee speculates, oxygen from Earth lands on the moon in this magnetic tail, where it interacts with the moon’s water molecules to create rust.
The magnetic tail blocks almost all of the solar wind throughout the moon – meaning the moon is temporarily protected from a hydrogen explosion, opening a window rust.
“This discovery will reshape our knowledge in the lunar polar region,” he added. “Earth could play an important role in the development of the moon’s surface.”
This theory could further explain why rust was found on other airless bodies such as asteroids. “It could be that the iron in this corpse is being allowed to rust under the influence of a few drops of water and dust particles,” Freeman said.
However, some questions remain unanswered – for example, although most of the rust was found near the moon, some small marks were also found some distance away, where the Earth’s oxygen should not have reached. How the moon’s water interacts with the rock is still unclear.
To collect more data for these unsolved mysteries, NASA is developing a new version of the tool that collects all this existing data on lunar mineralization. One of these features will be able to map water ice on a moon pole – and be able to reveal new details about hematite, NASA said in a statement.
