Earth’s Magnetosphere May Be Seeding The Moon With Air

Understanding The Moon & Earth

Since the Apollo missions more than half a century ago, the composition of the Moon and its usable resources have been a topic of interest to scientists, science-fiction writers, and policy makers.

This is also becoming a geopolitical topic, as a new space race is building between the USA and China. The scope of this space race is very different from the one between the USA and the Soviet Union, as the goal this time is to create a permanent presence on the Moon, and eventually Mars, with the first steps being the Artemis missions. In contrast, the previous visits to the Moon lasted mere hours or days.

A permanent settlement on the Moon will make the exploitation of local resources a possibility. But having astronauts survive on our planet’s satellite will also likely require us to use the local resources to keep them alive, as hauling thousands of tons of water and air to the Moon will be very difficult and extraordinarily expensive.

Researchers are, however, discovering that some of Earth’s air is already on the Moon, having been deposited on our satellite’s surface slowly over time, instead of just when our Moon initially formed.

This discovery was made by researchers at the University of Rochester (USA) and could radically change our expectations on how to produce breathable air from lunar resources. They published their results in the scientific journal Nature Communications Earth & Environment¹, under the title “Terrestrial atmospheric ion implantation occurred in the nearside lunar regolith during the history of Earth’s dynamo“.

How The Moon Formed And Why It Matters For Atmospheric Transfer

The most likely scenario is that our Moon formed when our planet was hit by a massive planetoid (“Theia”), breaking the Earth’s crust and sending a lot of material into orbit to coalesce into our current satellite.

For a long time, light elements present on the Moon’s surface were thought to mostly come from that period, including from leakage of the Earth’s atmosphere, with an addition from solar winds in the following 4 billion years. This was the explanation for the traces of elements like nitrogen, carbon dioxide, helium, argon, and water that the Apollo missions found in lunar regolith samples.

This transfer was also believed to have stopped early in the history of our planet.

But this might be wrong, as it now appears that the Earth’s magnetosphere, the powerful magnetic field surrounding the planet, could have contributed to continuously transporting some of the Earth’s air onto the Moon.

Source: NASA

Earth’s Magnetosphere & The Moon

The researchers developed a computer model to calculate how the Earth’s atmosphere, its magnetosphere, and the Moon interact.

While Earth today has a powerful protective magnetic field, it did not have one in its early days. Consequently, the research looked at which element would be moved to the Moon in both cases.

Source: Nature Communications Earth & Environment

Source: Nature Communications Earth & Environment

This analysis indicates that in modern days, the Earth’s atmosphere is a major contributor to the deposition of light elements on the Moon’s surface, much more than previously thought and more than in early geological eras. In that period, the much more intense solar winds of that time were the main contributor of light elements.

Swipe to scroll →

This also indicates that this is mostly happening when the Moon is located in the “magnetotail”, the end of Earth’s magnetic field that is pushed and deformed by the solar winds.

The charged (ionized) atoms from the highest level of the atmosphere travel along the magnetic line and end up trapped on the Moon’s surface.

Source: Nature Communications Earth & Environment

Scientific And Industrial Implications

The first application of this discovery is purely scientific. If the Earth has slowly deposited some of its atmosphere on the Moon since the time it had a magnetic field, this means that the untouched deposit of lunar regolith is like a carefully deposited sediment of Earth’s air, ready to be analyzed to reveal the Earth’s oldest atmospheric composition as a sort of time capsule.

In itself, this is something that could be a major task for the first lunar occupants, as part of a larger scientific program.

This also means that the lunar surface contains, at least in theory, all the building blocks to replicate an Earth-like atmosphere. This could make the creation of breathable air from local resources a lot easier, radically changing the economics of maintaining a permanent population on the Moon, or developing space-based industry with the local metals (like power satellites).

It could also change the expected profile of air-generating resources between the Moon’s nearside (the side visible from Earth) and the dark side (the one away from Earth), with the nearside much richer in useful light elements.

Investing in the Moon Economy

Intuitive Machines

Sending probes to celestial objects is going to require a strong expertise in building large space probes and making them arrive in the right place intact. For now, this has been mostly the domain of public institutions like NASA, the ESA, and associated universities.

This is changing as we are getting closer to the point where private companies could start sending automated or manned missions to mine asteroids, especially near-Earth objects.

This sort of project will likely be the next step or done in parallel to the return of manned missions to the Moon, planned for the upcoming years.

Founded in 2013 in Houston, Texas, Intuitive Machines is, for now, a very “Moon-focused” company, as indicated by its stock ticker LUNR, and has already been selected for 4 NASA lunar missions, and employs 400+ people.

Source: Intuitive Machines

It was the first commercial company to successfully land and transmit scientific data from the Moon. It also performed the 1st firing of the LOx/LCH4 (liquid oxygen, liquid methane) engine in space.

The company is working on many projects that will form the base of a lunar infrastructure for exploration and settlement.

The first one is the “data transmission service”, with the technology being tested, and ultimately looking to end with a lunar data transmission constellation around the Moon’s orbit.

Source: Intuitive Machines

The second part is the “Infrastructure as a Service”. It should include an LTV capable of autonomous operations, the telecommunication service, and GPS localization services.

Source: Intuitive Machines

The last segment is the delivery of material to the lunar surface. So far, the company has delivered scientific payloads with the Nova-C lander, a 4.3-meter-tall lander (14-feet) able to deliver 130kg of payload to the Moon.

The next step will be with the Nova-D lander, able to deliver 1,500-2,500 kg of material to the Moon. This payload capacity and size will be the one required for delivery of the Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV), as well as the 40kW Fission Surface Power nuclear reactor expected to power the Moon base.

Source: Intuitive Machines

The company has landed many valuable contracts with NASA, for example, the Near Space Network contract, with a maximum potential value of $4.82B.

The LTV contract final decision by NASA between the 3 potential suppliers was expected in late 2025, with an outcome likely imminent; this deal would be worth up to $4.6B as well.

Besides NASA, the company is trying to diversify its client base, having been selected in April 2025 for a grant of up to $10M by the Texas Space Commission. This will support the development of an Earth reentry vehicle and orbital fabrication lab designed to enable microgravity biomanufacturing.

This reentry vehicle will also provide a backup option and reduce risks for the Company’s future lunar sample return missions.

Another project is the development of low-power nuclear stealth satellites for an Air Force research laboratory JETSON contract.

Having targeted a positive free cash flow point in 2025, and with the lunar telecommunication contract secured, the company is now becoming a lot safer for investors, moving away from a cash-burning startup to an established services provider to the growing space economy.

And it could form the building block of further deep space exploration and utilization of space resources, especially as it becomes a trusted partner of NASA on par with SpaceX or Rocket Lab (RKLB -1.61%)

(You can also read a more detailed report on Intuitive Machines in our investment report dedicated to the company.)

Latest Intuitive Machines (LUNR) Stock News and Developments

Study Referenced

^{1. Paramanick, S., Blackman, E.G., Tarduno, J.A. et al. Terrestrial atmospheric ion implantation occurred in the nearside lunar regolith during the history of Earth’s dynamo. Commun Earth Environ 6, 1001 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02960-4}