According to new research done in the journal of “Earth and Planetary Science Letters”, our moon possessed an atmosphere 1.5x thicker than that of Mars. This atmosphere was created from lava eruptions, around 3.9 to 1 billion years ago.
Dr. Needham, planetary volcanologist, and Dr. David Kring, Lunar and Planetary Institute researcher, created estimates of the amount and composition of gases expelled during the eruptions using Apollo data. They found that the lunar atmosphere, composed of a mixture of carbon monoxide sulfur and water, lasted about 70 million years.
They also found what was suspected to be water could be volcanically could have been derived from 0.1% of the water in the polar regions of the Moon, which was vented through the volcanic eruptions. Ultimately, this will improve our development in space and understand if the water found can be considered a renewable resource.
Quote from researchers “Water is one of the keys to living off of the land in space, also called in-situ resource utilization.
Read more about this fascinating story at http://www.sci-news.com
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