Summary
The moon has been added to the World Monuments Fund’s (WMF) list of threatened heritage sites for the first time due to risks from commercial and governmental lunar activities.
The WMF highlights concerns about looting and damage to artefacts from Apollo missions, such as Neil Armstrong’s footprints and objects left on the moon.
WMF calls for international protocols to protect lunar heritage as private space tourism and missions increase.
The 2024 list also includes sites in conflict zones and areas endangered by climate change or unsustainable tourism.
Not having an atmosphere doesn’t mean that gases and particles will simply vanish. The moon just doesn’t have enough of a gravitational pull to keep them around for long.
You’re describing the act of something vanishing to be honest though.
The moon doesn’t have enough gravity to hold an atmosphere, it’ll always vanish.
Over time yes. But not instantaneous. So depending on the amount, it is possible to have smog on the moon.
Yes in the same way you can “survive” in the vacuum of space. The moon doesn’t have the gravity potential to hold an atmosphere, so while smog may “appear” it’s be gone just like the person who was alive in the vacuum of space for a few minutes as well.
But that doesn’t mean people can and should claim People can live in the vacuum of space now does it?
I really don’t understand what you are trying to say here. Yes, the process of diffusion is faster on the moon, but even on earth every second lighter parts of the atmosphere escapes into space (and heavier particles that pass by are attracted by gravity).
It’s not faster on the moon, there’s no restriction because of the lack of atmosphere.
You need gravity for an atmosphere, and you need an atmosphere to hold other particles. Without both, you CANT have “smog”.
Edit, your line of reasoning isn’t that you think it’s possible to terraform the moon or something is it?
But the moon has its own gravity field. Just not enough to keep a permanent atmosphere. Also, not having an atmosphere doesn’t mean the space above the surface is devoid of matter. In fact, even in interstellar space, you can find particles. And an atmosphere is not something that’s holding particles in. An atmosphere is made up of particles in a dense field gravitationally bound to a celestial body.
Not enough to keep ANY atmosphere. This is the part you are hung up on apparently.
Yes nebulae are visible because they are particles spread usually METERS apart, that’s only visible as a cloud THOUSANDS of light years away. If you were in the center of the nebulae it would be invisible from that perspective. Like being on earth and looking at the moon, there wouldn’t be enough density of particles to say, hey there’s “smog” there. Because the particles float away freely, unlike on earth. And they are also helped carried away by solar winds too. Which you know the atmosphere helps prevent on earth on other planetary bodies….
No, I am totally not. You are hung up on the part where you think that for something resembling smoke to exist, an atmosphere is necessary. Have you never seen RCS thruster being fired in zero gravity?
Yes, there won’t be fields of funnels causing smoke clouds that block the view from Earth. But exhaust products being expelled into the vacuum causing measurable dimming effects? Certainly at some point.