The Apollo projects landing equip. on the moon decayed by the sun's energy rays?

Question

If we would go to the moon the same place where Neil, and Buzz landed, do you think we would see their equip. decaying from the sun's rays? The moon doesn't have a strong atmosphere to protect the deadly rays, do you think it would have decayed including the U.S. flag?

Answer 1

Decay is more a function of bacteria and oxygen then sunshine. Items left should be in good shape since there is nothing to cause decay on the moon.

Answer 2

Most of the equipment will be intact, preserved in the vacuum. However, the flags have almost certainly disintegrated by now. The flags were standard nylon flags. Nylon breaks down under UV radiation, and after over 15 years of exposure to UV from the sun (over 30 years on the surface, but half of it in darkness) will at the very least be faded and more likely will be a line of powder on the ground next to the flagpole.

Answer 3

I doubt if anything would become appreciably radioactive from the assault of solar radiation. The parts of Surveyor 3 that were brought back by Apollo 12 were examined for micro-meteorite damage. I seem to remember that much of the observed damage was attributed to dust blown up when the Apollo 12 LEM touched down, making it hard to sort out what damage had been caused during the preceeding 3 years on the lunar surface.

The constant heating and cooling of the lunar cycle might lead to some sort of wear. I imagine the flag might fade from the effects of UV radiation, depending on how the colours were produced.

Answer 4

Not really. It'd be highly radioactive though. The time that the moon hasn't been visited is time that the moon flag has had to absorb all that radiation from the sun. Plus, the side that was landed on always faces the moon. So it takes in more radiation :)

Answer 5

Most of it is probably in good shape.