Why are 1969 footprints still on the Moon?
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Astronaut footprints from 1969 are still on the Moon, because there is no wind, no rain and no flowing water to wipe them away. NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has even photographed the astronauts' trails from orbit. They won't last forever, though: tiny impacts slowly stir up the lunar dust. Older estimates said millions of years, but a 2016 study with LRO images suggests the tracks will fade within a few tens of thousands of years.
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Transcript
- Tiggy Astronaut footprints from 1969 are still on the Moon.
- Sef Still? My paw prints wash away in seconds!
- Tiggy The Moon has no wind, no rain, and no waves.
- Tiggy A NASA orbiter has even spotted the astronauts' trails.
- Sef Will they last forever?
- Tiggy Not forever. Tiny space rocks slowly stir the dust.
- Tiggy But the prints could last tens of thousands of years.
- Sef Long enough! I'm signing my name.
Sources
- NASA: Earth's Moon Hit by Surprising Number of Meteoroids (2016) nasa.gov
- ASU LROC team: Dynamic Moon! (2016) lroc.asu.edu
- NASA Science: 10 Cool Things LRO Is Teaching Us About the Moon science.nasa.gov
- NASA Goddard: New LRO Images of the Apollo 12, 14 and 17 Sites (2011) svs.gsfc.nasa.gov
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