The Moon becomes the Earth’s landfill: they have even found golf balls

Recently, NASA announced the Artemis II lunar mission. In 2024, three Americans and one Canadian will fly around the Moon and become the first people to see the satellite up close in five decades. For their part, SpaceX and Blue Origin have more than 100 lunar landing missions scheduled in the next decade.

The main problem is that all these trips will leave a multitude of organic waste, debris and landers both on the lunar surface and in its orbit. Chris Impey, professor of astronomy at the University of California, warns of the negative effects that the accumulation of garbage could have on the Moon. At the moment, it is estimated that he accumulates 200 tons of garbage, among which there are the most curious objects, such as boots, hammers, flags and even golf balls.

The moon is turning into a dump

In total, scientists estimate that there are more than 23,000 objects larger than 10 centimeters on the lunar surface. To this figure must be added 100 million fragments of rubble. Meanwhile, in orbit, millions of pieces of debris travel at a speed of almost 25,000 kilometers per hour.

The problem is that a small object, just 1 millimeter, when traveling at such high speed can pierce even the most resistant spacesuit. It can also cause serious damage to the ship’s electronic equipment, as well as to the ship’s fuselage. Therefore, the next missions to the Moon will pose a great risk to the lives of all crew members.

The first human object to reach the Moon was an exploration probe launched by the Soviet Union on September 13, 1959. Since then, the satellite has been accumulating all types of debris launched from Earth.

Now, the chief historian of NASA, William Barry, assures that they are not residues, but space archaeology. He assures that future visitors to the Moon will find it interesting to see the places where important missions such as Apollo took place and discover the equipment used by NASA and other space agencies.

It should be noted that humans have not only turned the Moon into a dump, but other planets as well. For example, on the surface of Mars there are no more and no less than 160 objects, and no mission has yet been carried out to the red planet. There are also 500 debris orbiting the Sun.

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