Faded Flags on the Moon

Earlier this week, we saw photos from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter showing that 5 of the 6 American flags put down by Apollo astronauts still stand. But what kind of shape are they in?

Thanks to the intense, unfiltered sunlight of the long lunar daylight hours (the sun is up for over 350 hours straight before it sets on the Moon!) those red, white and blue stripes may be bleached white:

For forty-odd years, the flags have been exposed to the full fury of the Moon’s environment – alternating 14 days of searing sunlight and 100° C heat with 14 days of numbing-cold -150° C darkness. But even more damaging is the intense ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the pure unfiltered sunlight on the cloth (modal) from which the Apollo flags were made. Even on Earth, the colors of a cloth flag flown in bright sunlight for many years will eventually fade and need to be replaced. So it is likely that these symbols of American achievement have been rendered blank, bleached white by the UV radiation of unfiltered sunlight on the lunar surface. Some of them may even have begun to physically disintegrate under the intense flux.

So while the flags are clearly standing, any future lunar explorer might assume that our nation’s space travelers planted white flags on the moon.

Of course, we’re in danger of flying the white flag when it comes to the future of our space program, so maybe they won’t be too far off.

(↬ The Dish)

56 Notes/ Hide

  1. dogtagsandrocketbodies reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
  2. burnnout reblogged this from cicadasymphony
  3. cicadasymphony reblogged this from jtotheizzoe and added:
    “There is hopeful symbolism in the fact that flags do not wave in a vacuum” - Arthur C. Clarke
  4. ssa-aes reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
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  8. irrationalsense reblogged this from jtotheizzoe and added:
    Of course, this means we have to go there again. Our colors should not run. EVEN IN SPACE. (This calls for an “Amurica”...
  9. jaflounder reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
  10. ravishd reblogged this from jtotheizzoe and added:
    For some reason I think this is really really cool.
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  14. janenx01 reblogged this from jtotheizzoe and added:
    So I was telling my kids about this last night. Me: I think it’s kind of cool. It’s like the Moon doesn’t belong to one...
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