--- title: NASA: The Moon Once Had an Atmosphere That Faded Away description: The moon might have had an atmosphere around three to four billion years ago caused by ancient volcanos spewing gases on its surface canonical: https://time.com/4974580/nasa-moon-had-atmosphere-volcanoes/ author: Tara John article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-10-09T16:10:29.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T17:47:08.537Z article:section: Science og:title: NASA: The Moon Once Had an Atmosphere That Faded Away og:description: NASA believes it lasted for around 70 million years og:url: https://time.com/4974580/nasa-moon-had-atmosphere-volcanoes/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt570cf9fc5442a8ae/6988e1184ee2629eab30f528/gettyimages-484391054.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2306 og:image:height: 1297 og:image:alt: Night time photograph of a waxing gibbous Moon, taken on November 14, 2013. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: NASA: The Moon Once Had an Atmosphere That Faded Away twitter:description: NASA believes it lasted for around 70 million years twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt570cf9fc5442a8ae/6988e1184ee2629eab30f528/gettyimages-484391054.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # NASA: The Moon Once Had an Atmosphere That Faded Away > Sponsored content. 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Future Proof is TIME's weekly climate and energy newsletter, written by senior correspondent Justin Worland. It connects the energy transition to the decisions reshaping business, technology, policy and markets. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Tara John](https://time.com/author/tara-john/) ## Tara John Oct 9, 2017 4:10 PM UTC  Night time photograph of a waxing gibbous Moon, taken on November 14, 2013. Night time photograph of a waxing gibbous Moon, taken on November 14, 2013. Chris Rutter—Digital Camera Magazine/Getty Images by [Tara John](https://time.com/author/tara-john/) ## Tara John Oct 9, 2017 4:10 PM UTC The [moon](http://time.com/4960547/russia-roscosmos-nasa-moon-space-station/) likely had an ancient, temporary atmosphere — similar to the pocket of gases that surround Earth — around 3 to 4 billion years ago, [according to a new study](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0012821X17304971?via%3Dihub). Scientists at [NASA](http://www.thedrive.com/tech/14865/nasa-fires-rocket-high-above-u-s-east-coast-to-test-supersonic-parachute-for-mars)‘s Marshall Space Flight Center and the Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI) in Houston found that the atmosphere was caused by ancient volcanos spewing gases into the lunar sky faster than they could escape to space. The atmosphere, which was about 2% the density of Earth’s but twice that of Mars, lasted for around 70 million years before sputtering away into space. “This work dramatically changes our view of the Moon from an airless rocky body to one that used to be surrounded by an atmosphere more prevalent than that surrounding Mars today,” study author David Kring from LPI told [Phys.org](https://phys.org/news/2017-10-nasa-moon-atmosphere.html). The research was based on prior studies of samples carried back during Apollo missions. The study found that the moon’s magmas “carried gas components, such as carbon monoxide, the ingredients for water, sulfur, and other volatile species,” the scientists [wrote in a statement](https://www.lpi.usra.edu/features/100517/moon-atmosphere/). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4974580/nasa-moon-had-atmosphere-volcanoes/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4974580/nasa-moon-had-atmosphere-volcanoes/"},"headline":"NASA: The Moon Once Had an Atmosphere That Faded Away","datePublished":"2017-10-09T16:10:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T17:47:08.537Z","description":"NASA believes it lasted for around 70 million years","url":"https://time.com/4974580/nasa-moon-had-atmosphere-volcanoes/","keywords":["Space","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt570cf9fc5442a8ae/6988e1184ee2629eab30f528/gettyimages-484391054.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tara John","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tara-john/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt570cf9fc5442a8ae/6988e1184ee2629eab30f528/gettyimages-484391054.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Night time photograph of a waxing gibbous Moon, taken on November 14, 2013.","caption":"Night time photograph of a waxing gibbous Moon, taken on November 14, 2013.","creditText":"Chris Rutter—Digital Camera Magazine/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/space/","name":"Space"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4974580/nasa-moon-had-atmosphere-volcanoes/","name":"NASA: The Moon Once Had an Atmosphere That Faded Away"}}]}] ```