Why is the Moon rusting? It is a fact that the Earth’s natural satellite is turning a slight red color. Unfortunately, research points to the fact that the planet we inhabit may be the reason.
According to astronomers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, deposits of hematite have been discovered on the Moon. This ferric oxide mineral has been found right on the surface of the satellite, at high latitudes.
According to data collected by India’s Chandrayaan-1 mission, the explanation could be that the Earth’s atmosphere may be releasing some oxygen that gets trapped in the Moon’s higher altitudes. 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 on metals, 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 puzzling fact. According to researcher Shuai Li of the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, “the Moon is a terrible environment for rust to form.”
How is it that the Moon is rusting?
Simply put, by examining the polar regions of the satellite, it was found that in some different spectral features and patterns, there are traces of hematite.
“We hypothesize that lunar hematite is formed through the oxidation of iron on the lunar surface by oxygen from Earth’s upper atmosphere that has been continuously entrained to the lunar surface by the solar wind,” adds Li.
Interestingly, more hematite has been identified on the near-Earth side of the Moon. However, the missing ingredient to explain the fact that the Moon is oxidizing is water. According to the researchers, fast-moving dust particles colliding with the satellite could release water molecules trapped on the Moon’s surface.
This would imply the discovery of water on the Moon. This is how iron, water, and oxygen would mix to create the reddish hue found on the satellite. Much more data is still needed to verify this explanation, but NASA’s Artemis mission may be able to verify much more information.
Text and photos courtesy of Ecoosfera
Translated by María Isabel Carrasco Cara Chards
