Earth's Moon is Rusting

 Moon is rusting along the poles. Images captured by ISRO's Chandrayaan 1 suggest that the moon is rusting along the poles. The formation of rust can be attributed to the presence of two key elements -- water and oxygen when in contact with iron. Scientists proposes that the fast moving dust particles might initiate the release of surface borne water molecules, thus allowing water to mix with iron.

It is believed that though moon lacks atmosphere to support the formation of oxygen, it hosts traces of oxygen that travels from Earth to reach the lunar environment.

Earlier on Monday, India's Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Sunday said that the images sent by India's first lunar mission, Chandrayaan-1, suggest that the Moon may be rusting along the poles.

Chandrayaan-1 was launched in 2008. ISRO's maiden mission to the moon has sent images that shows that the Moon may be rusting along the poles.

“ The signs of this finding is that even though the surface of the moon is known to have iron-rich rocks, it is not known for the presence of the water and oxygen, which are the two elements needed to interact with the iron to creat rust,” said Singh, who is the Ministry of States for the Department of Space.