Not enough moon dust for an old universe (Talk.Origins)

Response ArticleThis article (Not enough moon dust for an old universe (Talk.Origins)) is a response to a rebuttal of a creationist claim published by Talk.Origins Archive under the title Index to Creationist Claims.

Index

Claim CE101:

Based on measured rates of planetary dust accumulation, there is too little moon dust for an old moon. Before the moon landings, there was considerable fear that astronauts would sink in the dust.

Source: Morris, Henry M., 1974. Scientific Creationism, Green Forest, AR: Master Books, p. 152.

CreationWiki response: It needs to be noted that their source is from 1974 and so some parts of it are bound to be out of date, and this is simply one of them. Walt Brownshows that there may yet be some life in this claim but most Creationists simply see it as out dated. For instance, in April, 1993, Dr. Andrew Snelling and David E. Rush published an extensive, in-depth analysis of this issue in the pages of Journal of Creation 7(1) entitled Moon dust and the age of the solar system.

Snelling and Rush, in addition to reviewing data from chemical analyses of deep sea sediments & dust in polar ice and satellite observations, survey the literature on the subject, providing a thorough assessment of the issue. They conclude:

Calculations show that the amount of meteoritic dust in the surface dust layer, and that which trace element analyses have shown to be in the regolith, is consistent with the current meteoritic dust influx rate operating over the evolutionists’ timescale. While there are some unresolved problems with the evolutionists’ case, the moon dust argument, using uniformitarian assumptions to argue against an old age for the moon and the solar system, should for the present not be used by creationists.

(Talk Origins quotes in blue)

The story that scientists worried about astronauts sinking in moon dust is a total fabrication. As early as 1965, scientists were confident, based on optical properties of the moon's surface, that dust was not extensive. Surveyor I, in May 1966, confirmed this.

Actually there was real concern about this, it is not a fabrication. There is main stream literature from the early 60's expressing this concern. It is true that Surveyor I and other factors had dispelled the concern before manned landings. Besides this concern is only mentioned as an illustration of the problem.

See also

• Moon dust