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mithridates
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<p>Assuming that we won't be installing a full atmosphere on the moon since it would be gone in a few thousand years and would remove some of the aspects that make the moon attractice (mass drivers, astronomy, etc.), wouldn't it be in our best interest to have a very thin atmosphere?</p><p>A very thin atmosphere would have the following benefits:</p><p>1) It would destroy micrometeorites, those of a few mm or cm in diameter that are impossible to detect but still extremely harmful</p><p>2) It would soften the lunar dust; lunar dust at present is extremely sharp due to the lack of atmosphere, but a certain amount would drive the dust around a bit, softening it up eventually and making it much less dangerous.</p><p>3) Some protection from radiation.</p><p>4) Some transmission of sound, and flying objects (balloons etc.) would be possible. </p><p> </p><p>Too much atmosphere of course would be an impossible task, and then we couldn't build mass drivers. So the question is, is there a perfect amount of atmosphere? What would be the minimum needed to start to see some of the effects listed above? Note that it doesn't need to be breathable, since the goal is not to terraform. </p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>----- </p><p>http://mithridates.blogspot.com</p> </div>