Hello,

This question pertains to all the Apollo landings.

I am curious about the overall state of the materials left on the moon and the effects of 36 to 40 years of being on the moon would do to certain objects.

I know that Charlie Duke left a photo of his young family on the moon in 1972. It was a colour photo in a plastic sheet facing up. He took a photo of it. If an astronaut were to discover it on some future mission what would they find? I'm guessing, that the photo would be so faded that you would'nt see the image. I'm also guessing that the plastic sheet that it was in would be so brittle as would the paper picture. 36 years of intense ultraviolet I assume would do this. Is this right?

Would this also be the case with the flags? There seems to be come conjecture about whether flags were toppled over or not. That's not really relevant. Would they too fade and become brittle?

How would the extreme temperature changes also affect materials? I assume the lunar rover batteries would have been dead long ago. Also would parts on this vehicle be brittle? Would there be some material breakdown in the plastics? Would they discolour?

I assume all this would probably be the case as well for the suits and other items left. Does anyone know the answers to this completely trivial but none the less slightly interesting question?

Regards,

David Hughes
Australia.