Moon may have had life

When Neil Armstrong set foot on the Moon’s surface in July 1969, it was not only a giant leap for mankind, but also the first time the satellite had ever hosted life.

The lunar world was thought to be a dead rock, lacking the volcanic activity needed to create an atmosphere and without sufficient gravity to trap the molecules needed for microbes to evolve.

But now, scientists have found that conditions on the lunar surface could have supported simple life forms around four billion years ago – roughly the same time that life was getting started on Earth.

During both periods, the Moon was spewing out large quantities of superheated gases, including water vapour, from its interior.

Not only did it create an atmosphere, but the escaping steam could have condensed into pools of liquid water on the Moon’s surface, becoming a perfect breeding ground for micro-organisms.

Dr Dirk Schulze-Makuch, an astrobiologist at Washington State University, said: “It looks very much like the Moon was habitable at this time.

“There could have actually been microbes thriving in water pools on the Moon until the surface became dry and dead.”

The findings are based on data from recent space missions and analyses of rock and soil samples that show the Moon is not as dry as once thought.

In 2009 and 2010, an inter- national team of scientists discovered hundreds of millions of metric tons of water ice on the Moon.

It is thought the Moon was formed 4.5 billion years ago when a large planet, which scientists have named Theia, crashed into Earth, eventually creating a huge debris disc that swirled together to form the satellite.

While today’s Moon is silent and sterile, around four billion years ago it would have been fiery and active following its dramatic birth.

Lava flows show it took more than a billion years to cool down.

Though conditions were present for life to evolve on the Moon as it did on Earth, researchers think it is more likely that organisms were brought by a meteorite.

The research was published in the journal Astrobiology. –