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Planetary science

Earth's lunar attic

Nature volume 419, pages 791–793 (2002)Cite this article

Rocks blasted long ago from the surface of Earth and other planets may be preserved on the Moon. Although hard to identify, they could hold a unique record of the chemical history of the planets and even evidence of life.

Two decades ago, it was realized that a few unusual meteorites in our museums are actually pieces of Mars1. Isotopic ratios derived from gas trapped inside the rocks indicate their provenance. Meteorites that originated on the Moon were soon recognized, and one that might be from Mercury2. Calculations of the interplanetary transport3 of material support the possibility that such rocks are being carried to the Earth, and of course there has been speculation that ancient transport of earthly rocks to Mars, lofted by giant cratering impacts, may have 'seeded' life on that planet — or the other way round.

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Figure 1: The South Pole–Aitken Basin.

THE CLEMENTINE PROJECT

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  1. Space Studies Department, Southwest Research Institute, Suite 400, 1050 Walnut Street, Boulder, 80302, Colorado, USA

    Clark R. Chapman

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  1. Clark R. Chapman
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Correspondence to Clark R. Chapman.

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Chapman, C. Earth's lunar attic. Nature 419, 791–793 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/419791a

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