Why is The Surface of the Moon Rusting?
Rust on the Moon shouldn’t be possible, but there it is — so how did it form? Actually, Earth may be to blame.
Rust on the Moon discovered by the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft orbiting our planetary companion suggests complex interactions between the Sun, Earth, and Moon. With little water or oxygen, iron oxide (rust) still formed in the harsh environment of the lunar surface, detected within hematite deposits recorded by the lunar orbiter more than a decade ago.
Hematite is created on Earth from the interactions of oxygen and water on iron deposits. However, with water in short supply on the Moon (except inside craters at the poles) and a scarcity of oxygen, researchers are puzzled how the mineral may have formed.
The Moon Mineralogy Mapper instrument (M3) onboard the lunar orbiter found telltale signs of hematite, which should not exist in the arid environment on the Moon. The distinctive red color of Mars is a result of iron oxide (rust) on its surface. However, Mars was once a water world — unlike the Moon.
“At first, I totally didn’t believe it. It shouldn’t exist based on the conditions present on the Moon. But since we discovered water on the Moon, people have been speculating that there could be a greater variety of minerals than we realize if that water had reacted with rocks,” Abigail Fraeman of…
