# Is the Moon terraformable? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 20, 2008, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-moon-terraformable/473657 "2008-11-20T15:31:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Tristan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tristan/32/18058_2.png) [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-moon-terraformable/473657/41 "2008-11-24T18:10:36Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Possibly. As for handwaving; the fact that there’s no association with magnetic reversals ( during which Earth’s magnetic field vanishes ) and mass extinctions demonstrates that the radiation isn’t enough to make it uninhabitable. Possibly true, but given the mass of hte Earth vs. mass of Luna, I imagine the atmosphere of Luna wouldn’t have the depth to “soak up” the rather intense solar radiation. [This site](http://www.psrd.hawaii.edu/Sept99/MoonCore.html), though a bit dated, shows the Moon being covered, at least during part of it’s rotation, by the magnetoshpere of the Earth. Hmmmmm… ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-moon-terraformable/473657/42 "2008-11-24T18:39:23Z")
I still don’t think you could ever truly terraform the moon, regardless of technical advancement. The best we could hope for is a permanent base there with perhaps underground shelters that would be habitable…and that would only really be feasible if we in fact found water in the form of ice in sufficient quantities. -XT ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-moon-terraformable/473657/43 "2008-11-24T18:40:00Z")
I think it would be more likely to dig huge underground complexes and terraform those. That is, have a natural and sustainable ecosystem that produces air and water without man’s input. Then you’d have your radiation shielding in the form of 500 meters of lunar rock and you wouldn’t lose a significant amount of atmosphere to space. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-moon-terraformable/473657/44 "2008-11-24T18:46:38Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > > [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > > > Possibly. As for handwaving; the fact that there’s no association with magnetic reversals ( during which Earth’s magnetic field vanishes ) and mass extinctions demonstrates that the radiation isn’t enough to make it uninhabitable. > > During those reversals, for **how long** does Earth go without a magnetic field? Actually, the Earth’s magnetic field does not vanish entirely when it undergoes reversals. Only the dipole component becomes small. Higher order components will still be there and quite possibly be stronger, since the magnetic field energy is unlikely to go away completely. More radiation will reach the surface during a reversal, but it won’t be like there’s no field at all. ---
**Author:** ![History\_Geek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b19c9b/32.png) [@History\_Geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/History_Geek)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-moon-terraformable/473657/45 "2008-11-25T02:14:55Z")
Here’s a thought I had a couple months ago (albeit about Mars, not Luna): is it possible to enrich the dirt enough to sustain plant life? If you add organic compounds to regolith, would it become proper soil? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-moon-terraformable/473657/46 "2008-11-25T02:37:24Z")
> [@xtisme](#): > > I still don’t think you could ever truly terraform the moon, regardless of technical advancement. Well, there’s no reason to believe we can’t. We probably won’t due to lack of interest though. > [@xtisme](#): > > The best we could hope for is a permanent base there with perhaps underground shelters that would be habitable…and that would only really be feasible if we in fact found water in the form of ice in sufficient quantities. There’s no need for that; we can just bring in water from elsewhere ( the ice moons of the gas giants, say ). It wouldn’t even take a lot of energy, once the infrastructure is built; the Moon is small enough that a space elevator could be built with modern materials, not the theoretical stuff you’d need for a Earth space elevator; and one can use such things as rotating tethers and solar & magnetic sails for cheap interplanetary travel. Remember; for something like a chunk of ice, it doesn’t matter if the voyage takes years, as long as a continuous stream of ice keeps coming. So you don’t need high energy, high thrust engines. ---
**Author:** ![lizardling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f4b2a3/32.png) [@lizardling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lizardling)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-moon-terraformable/473657/47 "2008-11-25T02:44:12Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > You could probably partially or completely mirror those shrouds, to reflect sunlight or block it and moderate the effects. Maybe it’s a dumb question, but why not turn the Moon into a smaller Dyson sphere at this point? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-moon-terraformable/473657/48 "2008-11-25T02:53:32Z")
> [@lizardling](#): > > Maybe it’s a dumb question, but why not turn the Moon into a smaller Dyson sphere at this point? Because that wasn’t what the OP asked about. And the two ideas are far different; surrounding the Moon with thin shrouds isn’t at all the same as dismantling the whole Moon and turning it into a shell of habitats and such englobing the Sun. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-moon-terraformable/473657/49 "2008-11-25T02:59:50Z")
> [@Tristan](#): > > Possibly true, but given the mass of hte Earth vs. mass of Luna, I imagine the atmosphere of Luna wouldn’t have the depth to “soak up” the rather intense solar radiation. Actually, if you put enough atmosphere on the Moon to give it Earth-standard pressure at the surface, it would have a deeper atmosphere than Earth – the lower gravity means that air pressure would fall off less rapidly with altitude. Total shielding would be six times as much, because there would have to be six times as much mass of air above any given area to provide the posited Earth-standard pressure. ---
**Author:** ![Tristan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tristan/32/18058_2.png) [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-moon-terraformable/473657/50 "2008-11-25T12:48:59Z")
> [@History\_Geek](#): > > Here’s a thought I had a couple months ago (albeit about Mars, not Luna): is it possible to enrich the dirt enough to sustain plant life? If you add organic compounds to regolith, would it become proper soil? I’m certain that would work. Regolith, after all, is just powdered rock. It’s already broken down, it’s just missing the organics. One of the big unknowns, however, is what trace elements might be existant in the lunar “soil” that would make it impossible to grow human-friendly foods, or make it inhospitable, no matter how much manure you add (see also: perchlorates in Martian surface). A good experiment, and one I might give a shot in the spring, would be to powder some stone and then try to make a fertile soil by adding “organics”. ---
**Author:** ![History\_Geek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b19c9b/32.png) [@History\_Geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/History_Geek)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-moon-terraformable/473657/51 "2008-11-25T17:30:28Z")
> [@Tristan](#): > > I’m certain that would work. Regolith, after all, is just powdered rock. It’s already broken down, it’s just missing the organics. > > One of the big unknowns, however, is what trace elements might be existant in the lunar “soil” that would make it impossible to grow human-friendly foods, or make it inhospitable, no matter how much manure you add (see also: perchlorates in Martian surface). > > A good experiment, and one I might give a shot in the spring, would be to powder some stone and then try to make a fertile soil by adding “organics”. Remember to use basalt! I bet it takes a shitload of organics. Sorry - couldn’t resist. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-moon-terraformable/473657.md?page=2)