There are FIVE U.S. flags sitting on Earth's moon.
The oldest has been there for a few days shy of 45 years!
What happened to them?
Are they still there?
Are they OKAY?!
Hello world!
Trace here for DNews and HAPPY UNITED STATES INDEPENDENCE DAY!
Today in 1776 the Declaration of Independence was adopted and printed.
In the US this means lots of fireworks, food and flags around the 4th of July.
Which got me thinking about our loneliest flags... the ones on the moon.
There are six American flags on our Moon, one from each successful Apollo landing -- 11,
12, 14, 15, 16, and 17.
The nylon flags were manufactured by Annin Flagmakers in New Jersey and cost a whopping
five dollars and fifty cents at the time.
They were literally the same flag you'd get off the shelf.
The moon is unownable under the Outer Space Treaty, so the flag was never meant as a symbol
that it was conquered by America.
It was purely ceremonial.
Something to help humanize the achievement of putting a human on the moon.
On Earth, a flagpole is a pretty simple thing, but taking one that can be set up on the moon
took multiple engineers considering everything from the lunar regolith, to the mobility of
an astronaut in their suit.
These NASA engineers produced the Lunar Flag Assembly -- which looks like this[a] -- and
is essentially a set of interlocking vertical poles with an attached nylon flag.
As the moon doesn't have an atmosphere, the engineers added a telescoping curtain-rod-like
horizontal pole at the top to hold the flag out.
Astronauts couldn't extend all the way, however, which is why the flags look rippled in photos.
Without wind or an atmosphere, the flags only move when something ACTS on them, like when
the astronauts were setting them up, or when a rocket blast blows by them.
Buzz Aldrin thought he saw the Apollo 11 flag fall over during the rocket blast that launched
them back to meet up with the Command Module...
In 2012, his suspicions were confirmed by data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter,
but we'll come back to that.
So assuming the flags are still standing, what would they look like now?
These nylon flags were put up and left for 45 years.
FORTY FIVE YEARS OF Alternative 14 days of sunlight and 212 degree (100C) heat and 14
days of darkness and negative 238 degree (-150 C) cold.
Plus bombardment from cosmic and ultraviolet radiation, micrometeors and charged particles...
Have you ever left a book or photo in the sunlight for a while?
Notice how its color fades?
This is the INTENSE version of that, multiplied by four-and-a-half decades.
The nylon fabric wasn't exactly made to last forever.
It just had to look good for the landing ceremony.
By 2014, experts say, our flags are at BEST simply sun-bleached white nylon, and at WORST
have completely turned to dust.
The flagpoles are made of anodized aluminum, so they're doing okay.
Of course, we don't know for sure.
We can't point a telescope at the moon and check, because the 3-by-5-foot (0.91 by 1.52
m) flags are just too small to see.
There is a ray of hope -- no pun intended -- because remember the data for the Lunar
Reconnaissance Orbiter I mentioned?
in 2012, the LRO pointed its cameras at the Apollo landing sites to see what condition
they were in.
They could easily see the Lunar Module, but they ALSO spotted a shadow nearby!
THE FLAGS!!
At the sites of Apollo 12, 16 and 17 they could see the shadow of the Lunar Flag Assembly!
Some of these still cast tiny rectangular shadows onto the ground, they think, though
they're not 100-percent sure... again, they're really small.
So maybe, just maybe, there's some of 'Old Glory' left clinging to those poles.
Sitting in the silence of our moon.
Happy Independence Day everyone!
What do you think?
Should we send more flags to the moon and more places?
Come tell us and thanks for watching, we love you guys.
If you want more than just science news us, check out our new sister show, Test Tube.
It covers world events and trending topics like what jihad really means, why FIFA may
be like a war profiteer, what ISIS is doing in Iraq, and which countries Kings are most
like those in Game of Thrones.
We make the news more relevant to you, and make you sound smart at parties.
Hit subscribe button now and get TestTube every day, just like DNews!