Space & Astronomy

Was the Moon habitable 4 billion years ago ?

By T.K. Randall
July 24, 2018

Image: Buzz Aldrin on the Moon
Credit: Neil Armstrong (1969) / (PD) NASA The barren lunar landscape may not seem like the most promising place to look for life today, however a new study has indicated that, billions of years ago, conditions there may have been very different.

In the study, Professor Dirk Schulze-Makuch from Washington State University and Professor Ian Crawford from the University of London propose that, during two specific periods approximately 3.5 and 4 billion years ago, the Moon was spewing out so much super-heated volatile gas that it may have supported the conditions needed for primitive life forms to thrive.

"If liquid water and a significant atmosphere were present on the early Moon for long periods of time, we think the lunar surface would have been at least transiently habitable," said Prof Schulze-Makuch.There is also evidence to suggest that the Moon during these times had a magnetosphere - a protective magnetic field that deflects deadly radiation coming from the Sun.

While the two scientists don't believe life would have arisen independently on the Moon, they do believe that a meteorite could have transported life there from the Earth.

"It looks very much like the Moon was habitable at this time," said Prof Schulze-Makuch.

Source: Sky News

Tags: Moon