Newsgroups: sci.space.history
From: henry@spsystems.net (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: lunar atmosphere (was Re: Naming conventions)
Date: Tue, 4 Aug 1998 12:40:26 GMT

In article <wa2iseEx58DB.2Cy@netcom.com>,
Robert Casey <wa2ise@netcom.com> wrote:
>I've heard that the Apollo lunar landers have added enough "air pollution"
>to this atmosphere so the pollution is a third of the entire atmosphere.
>Though I suppose some fraction of this pollution has escaped into space
>by now.

Each Apollo landing produced a mass of gases -- mostly rocket exhaust --
equal to roughly the total mass of the lunar atmosphere.  It was enough to
seriously compromise the one or two surface experiments aimed at studying
the real lunar atmosphere.  It'll be gone now, but there is some long-term
concern that vigorous activity on the lunar surface might equip the Moon
with a relatively long-lived artificial atmosphere, too thin to be of any
use but thick enough to be a nuisance in some ways.
--
Being the last man on the Moon is a |  Henry Spencer   henry@spsystems.net
very dubious honor. -- Gene Cernan  |      (aka henry@zoo.toronto.edu)