What might happen to the lunar atmosphere after a time of major human presence or activity on Earth's natural satellite? After hundreds of touchdowns and flyoffs and disturbances to environment?
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1$\begingroup$ Your question leaves room for interpretation. What is major presence? You may improve your question by referencing actual scenarios. $\endgroup$– AndreasCommented Oct 28, 2016 at 18:46
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1$\begingroup$ I think the second sentence hundreds of touchdowns and flyoffs and disturbance to environment" is meant to be an explanation for major presence. $\endgroup$– uhohCommented Oct 29, 2016 at 0:31
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1$\begingroup$ @uhoh We could put a great answer on the effects of Aerozine on the lunar atmosphere, but I'm not sure if that is what is asked. BTW, NASA's LADEE mission would be a good source.. $\endgroup$– AndreasCommented Oct 29, 2016 at 18:07
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$\begingroup$ @Andreas I've just asked this related question. Also, with issues of electrical charge, solar photon pressure, and orbital mechanics, the fate of dust particles and gas molecules is really interesting! $\endgroup$– uhohCommented Oct 30, 2016 at 1:09
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1$\begingroup$ I agree this is a very interesting field. Yet, this question will not get my upvote until it is edited to be more specific. $\endgroup$– AndreasCommented Oct 30, 2016 at 14:39
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2 Answers
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Assuming a more permanent human presence, we should have came up with a solution to the atmospheric conditioning of the moon. Maybe something like a magnetic field to hold in place denser gases which provide a building block for a space dome.
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The Moon does have an atmosphere. It is about 1,000,000 particles per m2, this is not very much compared to Earths 10,000,000,000,000,000,000. It is about comparable to the atmosphere that exists in the same region that the ISS orbits - 330 - 435km.
If you launched a rocket whatever gases were produced would likely not hang around long, of course there would be trace amounts and exactly what gases would depend on the fuel/oxidizer used in the rocket.
The moon's atmosphere currently consists of helium, argon and possibly neon, ammonia, methane and carbon dioxide. This discovery was made by the Lunar Atmospheric Composition Experiment (LACE) that was placed on the lunar surface on the Apollo 17 mission. On Earth we have used telescopes to detect sodium and potassium in the atmosphere.
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2$\begingroup$ Your cite of the source is wrong, the lunar atmosphere has less than 1,000,000 molecules in a cubic centimeter, not a square meter. Molecules per area does not make sense, it is per volume. A cubic mteter has one million cubic centimeter. The lunar atmosphere has less than 1,000,000,000,000 molecules per cubic meter. $\endgroup$– UweCommented Nov 8, 2016 at 12:27
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1$\begingroup$ The refereced source even says "cubic centimeter", which would be cm$^3$. $\endgroup$– userCommented Jan 3, 2017 at 12:40
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$\begingroup$ It would probably be better to refer to the Moon's exosphere, as the reference does toward the end; there is a qualitative difference between that and a typical atmosphere. $\endgroup$ Commented Apr 2, 2017 at 2:00