Solar storms and Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) are powerful enough to erode the surface of the moon, NASA simulations indicate.
And they could be one of the main ways in which planets like Mars, whcih lack a global magnetic field, lose their atmosphere.
A strong CME can contain around a billion tons of plasma - electrically charged particles - moving at up to a million miles per hour in a cloud many times the size of Earth. And because the moon has only the barest wisp of an atmosphere to protect it, when plasma from CMEs impacts the surface, atoms are ejected in a process called 'sputtering'.
"We found that when this massive cloud of plasma strikes the moon, it acts like a sandblaster and easily removes volatile material from the surface," says William Farrell, DREAM team lead at NASA Goddard.
"The model predicts 100 to 200 tons of lunar material
And they could be one of the main ways in which planets like Mars, whcih lack a global magnetic field, lose their atmosphere.
A strong CME can contain around a billion tons of plasma - electrically charged particles - moving at up to a million miles per hour in a cloud many times the size of Earth. And because the moon has only the barest wisp of an atmosphere to protect it, when plasma from CMEs impacts the surface, atoms are ejected in a process called 'sputtering'.
"We found that when this massive cloud of plasma strikes the moon, it acts like a sandblaster and easily removes volatile material from the surface," says William Farrell, DREAM team lead at NASA Goddard.
"The model predicts 100 to 200 tons of lunar material