So Nasa says the Moon Does have an atmosphere.

Well they say there is Ice there and after an interesting Moon Geology Nasa read. I find there is a "insignificant" but Gas type atmosphere as well.
I dont know if this is news too anyone or not. But an Atmosphere and Ice suggest building block applications IMO.
Just because an atmosphere is Non human supporting doesnt mean it Cant support simpler or adapted forms of biological life.
Seems there is much about the Moon that doesnt suggest "Dead Moon" after all.
Have a read.
"More abundant gases, such as nitrogen and carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, are also outgassed along with radon"
lunar.arc.nasa.gov...

reply to post by VType


Yes, but the released gas isn't trapped by the moon effectively because of the weaker gravity. Therefore it escapes into space leaving no significant amount behind, or so the best theories and models suggest.

Frozen water, on the other hand, could remain intact, but only where there is no sunlight to break it down. However, in a frozen state it would have as little chance of being a building block for anything as it did while traveling through space.

The moon does have an atmosphere, but the pressure is ridiculously low, and it is of mostly scientific interest and not much else. Keep in mind that space itself is not quite a vacuum; even in interstellar space, there is some gas. However, the amount is so tiny that the atmospheric conditions on the moon make a far better vacuum than what is technologically possible here on Earth. Thus, for all practical purposes, the moon does not have an atmosphere. As NGC2736 pointed out, most outgassings escape into space.

The moon's "atmoshphere" contains about 5*10^3 atoms per cm^3. The earth's atmosphere contains about 2*10^19 atoms per cm^3. That's a difference of 4,000,000,000,000,000 times.

"Ice" is not yet proven, hydrogen has been detected and it is hoped to be in the form of water ice left from cometary impacts. It may be ice, it may be in the form of something like portland cement lying in the permanently shadowed craters.

Water ice will be much easier to extract and process into usable forms for ISRU. (in situ resource utilization)