{"690717":{"#nid":"690717","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Georgia Tech Scientists Create Moon Rock in the Lab","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe moon may look unchanged from afar, but its surface is constantly reshaped by microscopic impacts and a steady stream of particles from the sun, a process known as space weathering. Now, Georgia Tech researchers have recreated one of those weathering sources, solar wind, in the lab \u2014 offering new insight into how the lunar surface evolves.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDust-sized meteoroids and solar wind gradually alter lunar soil, producing tiny metallic particles known as nanophase iron. For years, scientists have used sensing data influenced by those particles to estimate the weathering age of the moon\u2019s surface, but they weren\u2019t sure which weather source primarily drives these changes.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo investigate, physics Ph.D. candidate Roshan Trivedi and Advik Vira, a recent Ph.D. graduate, exposed ilmenite, a common mineral on both the Earth and moon, to a synthetic version of solar wind. The experiment produced nanophase iron under controlled conditions, suggesting that solar wind plays a major role in shaping the lunar surface observed today.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe team presented its findings in \u201c\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/iopscience.iop.org\/article\/10.3847\/PSJ\/ae6074\u0022\u003ECreation of Lunar-Like Rims in Ilmenite Using Synthetic Solar Wind\u003C\/a\u003E,\u201d published in \u003Cem\u003EThe Planetary Science Journal\u003C\/em\u003E in June.\u0026nbsp;Their work was conducted through the Georgia Tech \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/clever.research.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ECenter for Lunar Environment and Volatile Exploration Research (CLEVER)\u003C\/a\u003E, a NASA Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI) led by Georgia Tech Regents\u2019 Professor \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/chemistry.gatech.edu\/people\/thomas-orlando\u0022\u003EThom Orlando\u003C\/a\u003E, a co-author of the study. A central aim of CLEVER is to understand the science and effects of space weathering as they pertain to the goals of NASA\u2019s Artemis missions.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBy understanding how the moon\u2019s surface morphs on a microscopic level, scientists will be able to better interpret remote sensing data. Soon, we won\u2019t have to rely just on\u0026nbsp;moon missions to learn\u0026nbsp;detailed characteristics of\u0026nbsp;the lunar surface.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe work could also shed light on another longstanding question: how water forms on the moon.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWater would be a fantastic resource for humans operating on the moon, but scientifically, we are driven simply by the question of how water gets there in the first place,\u201d said \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/people\/phillip-first\u0022\u003EPhillip First\u003C\/a\u003E, a professor in the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/physics.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Physics\u003C\/a\u003E. \u201cSolar wind is potentially one way, because protons in solar wind provide the hydrogen of H2O molecules\u0026nbsp;while oxygen is present in lunar minerals.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EUsing a vacuum chamber in Orlando\u2019s lab to simulate solar wind and high-resolution electron microscopy to analyze the samples, the researchers recreated the effects of thousands of years of solar wind exposure.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cScientists have been doing laboratory radiation experiments for years, but they haven\u0027t been able to characterize the results at this level of detail,\u201d said lead author Trivedi.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe team can now simulate a wide range of exposure ages, which may help explain how water forms. In addition to forming nanophase iron, the experiments created tiny voids within the mineral \u2014 potential sites where hydrogen from solar wind could bond with oxygen to form water.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cHaving the ability to recreate the solar wind\u0026nbsp;and having results look so similar to actual lunar samples is excellent,\u201d said co-lead author Vira.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDOI\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E:\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/iopscience.iop.org\/article\/10.3847\/PSJ\/ae6074\u0022\u003E10.3847\/PSJ\/ae6074\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EFunding\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E:\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003EThis work was directly supported by the NASA SSERVI under CLEVER. Sample preparation was performed at the Georgia Tech Institute for Matter and Systems, which is supported by the National Science Foundation. Collaborations between the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory and Georgia Tech for advanced electron microscopy were supported by the Georgia Tech Center for Space Technology and Research.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThis moon rock could help scientists interpret lunar data and explore how water may form on the moon.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"This moon rock could help scientists interpret lunar data and explore how water may form on the moon."}],"uid":"34541","created_gmt":"2026-06-10 14:49:58","changed_gmt":"2026-06-10 14:52:17","author":"Tess Malone","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2026-06-10T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2026-06-10T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"680443":{"id":"680443","type":"image","title":"moon.jpg","body":null,"created":"1781103109","gmt_created":"2026-06-10 14:51:49","changed":"1781103119","gmt_changed":"2026-06-10 14:51:59","alt":"Moon","file":{"fid":"264702","name":"moon.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/06\/10\/moon.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/06\/10\/moon.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":64398,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/06\/10\/moon.jpg?itok=3pXbjGri"}}},"media_ids":["680443"],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"660369","name":"Matter and Systems"},{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193652","name":"Matter and Systems"},{"id":"193657","name":"Space Research Initiative"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ETess Malone, Senior Research\/Writer Editor\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003Etess.malone@gatech.edu\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}