Why is the moon rusting? It is a fact that the Earth’s natural satellite is turning a slight red color. Unfortunately, research suggests that the planet we inhabit may be the reason.
According to astronomers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, deposits of hematite have been discovered on the moon. Right on the surface of the satellite, in high latitudes, this ferric oxide mineral has been found.
The explanation that astronomers found, according to data collected by India’s Chandrayaan-1 mission, is that Earth’s mission could be releasing oxygen that flies to the moon and is trapped at the highest altitudes of the satellite. Once the oxygen is there, the transformation of the mineral begins, which is why it turns reddish.
Rust is the result of a very common chemical reaction, at least on Earth. It is possible to see it in nails, rocks, iron, etc. It is even very common on Mars, but on Earth’s satellite it is not. The moon is rusting and this is a disconcerting fact. According to researcher Shuai Li of the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, “the moon is a terrible environment for rust to form.”
Image: ISRO/NASA/JPL-Caltech/Brown Univ./USGS/On sputniknews
How come the moon is rusting?
In short, when examining the polar regions of the satellite it was found that in some different spectral features and patterns there is the signature of hematite, that is, this mineral is present on the moon.
“Our hypothesis is that lunar hematite is formed through the oxidation of iron by oxygen from the Earth’s upper atmosphere that has been continually blown to the lunar surface by the solar wind,” adds L.
Interestingly, more hematite has been identified from the near side of the moon to Earth. However, the missing ingredient to explain the fact that the moon is rusting is . According to the researchers, fast-moving dust particles colliding with the satellite could release molecules of .
This would involve the discovery of . This is how iron, water and oxygen would mix to create the satellite’s reddish tone. Much more data is still needed to verify this explanation, but it is possible that much more information can be verified with NASA’s Artemis mission.