"As we moved into the main course, it was as if a cosmic wind enveloped us.
The "cosmic wind chime" is also a one-of-a-kind barometer for harmful radiation.
"The chandelier is something of a cosmic wind chime in that it responds to radiation present in its immediate environment," Stearns explains to The Creators Project.
There is no atmosphere to protect its surface from the ravages of cosmic radiation, solar wind and micrometeorite impacts.
Lunar regolith is bright and reflective when freshly exposed – the bombardment from cosmic rays, solar wind and meteorites gradually darkens it, but on the crater's walls it is particularly well sheltered from such disturbances.
Dust covering the surface of the moon is expected to be electrostatically charged due to the solar wind, cosmic rays, and the solar radiation itself through the photoelectric effect.
Additional small amounts of lithium of both 6Li and 7Li may be generated from solar wind, cosmic rays hitting heavier atoms, and from early solar system 7Be and 10Be radioactive decay.
The lunar regolith, which includes dust, is a product of billions of years of meteorite impacts, micrometeorite impacts, cosmic dust, solar wind hydrogen implantation, and ionizing radiation.
Furthermore, the telecommunication systems on satellite may be subjected to serious effects, including the lack of battery energy and the attack of solar winds or cosmic rays, so that the communication links between SAs and ESs would randomly break down unpredictably.
Analysis of these grains showed that ordinary chondrites, the most common type of meteorite, were from S-class asteroids like Itokawa and that Itokawa was slowly being worn away from weathering by solar wind and cosmic rays.
