Footprints on the moon will stay for millions of years: Here’s why
It is real fun making footprints on the beach and then quickly clicking pictures before they get washed away by the waves of the sea, isn’t it? In the same way, the tyres of your jeep leave a trail on the sand during your desert safari. However, they soon fade away with the blowing wind. The footprints and tyre marks soon disappear only on our planet Earth. What about the moon? Nothing changes on the moon. If you were to step on the moon, be rest assured your footsteps will probably be there for a long, long time. Let us find out why.
The footprints of Neil Armstrong on the moon
The footprints of the three Apollo 11 astronauts including Neil Armstrong who landed on the moon in 1969 for the first time, are intact to date. They have not been washed away by water or blown away by wind or folded back inside. Surprising indeed.
But how do we know? The close-up photographs taken by NASA of several Apollo landing sites clearly show that human tracks and discarded hardware left during the moon missions are intact on its dusty surface.
Moon has no atmosphere
But how is that so? That is because the moon has no atmosphere. It is geologically dead. There is no wind to blow anything away or water to wipe them out. Neither are there any earthquakes or volcanoes which could fold them inside or change the lunar surface features, like it happens on Earth.
Struck by meteorites
The question is for how long will these be retained? While the specimens are preserved for now but will they be there forever?
No, scientists doubt that. This is because the moon is constantly exposed to bombardment by meteorites or very small space particles which impact it at very high velocities. They have the potential to change the moon’s surface and will eventually wear down the tracks and objects left at the landing sites. However, the process is very, very slow. Scientists have learnt from past studies of moon rocks collected by astronauts during the Apollo missions that the rocks erode at a rate of only about 0.04 inches in 1 million years. Now that means, there will probably be no traces of the Apollo missions in, let's say, 10 to 100 million years.
Surprising moon facts
- The moon was a result of an explosive collision when a rock smashed into Earth.
- The moon is our planet Earth's only permanent natural satellite.
- On Earth, we only see the same side of the moon always. Just like Earth, the moon rotates around its axis and its rotation lasts about 27 days. This is roughly the same as the 27.32 days the moon takes to orbit the Earth and therefore, you only ever see one face of the moon – a process called ‘tidal locking’.