The US Flags On The Moon Are Probably Pure White Now
People with a general idea of how space works may assume everything we left on the Moon from the US trips in the late 60’s and early 70’s should remain exactly the way it is, footprints and all, given a lack of interference. This isn’t entirely true. Future visitors to the Moon may see an odd white handkerchief on a pole instead of the Stars and Stripes. Why? Well, you may have noticed when you keep an object near a window for several months, its colors eventually start getting bleached out by the sun’s UV rays. Now imagine how much quicker that would happen without an ozone layer or any of the other protections the Earth’s atmosphere provides. Analysis: the flags on the moon are white now. And as lunar scientist Paul D. Spudis points out in his article on the Air and Space Museum website, circumstances will get worse: “For forty-odd years, the flags have been exposed to the full fury of the Moon’s environment – alternating 14 days