News Release

MADISON, Wis. — As we grow closer to supporting a sustainable human presence on the Moon, researchers are investigating how its soils can provide valuable resources and even grow food.

An article in the Soil Science Society of America Journal proposes a classification framework to help scientists better understand lunar soils. This emerging science of “planetary pedology,” the study and classification of soils beyond Earth, could help future missions select the best sites for construction, resource extraction and potentially cultivation, thereby supporting long-term, sustainable human settlement on the Moon.

Most of what we now know about lunar soil is based on satellite images and other observations from afar. These surface-level measurements do not provide the detailed information needed to determine which soils and locations could best support future infrastructure.

Attitudes towards lunar soils are shifting, too. They were once dismissed as basic rock powder or “dust,” chiefly because they do not show any biological activity. Increasingly, researchers recognize that lunar soils possess distinct structures and properties shaped over billions of years by physical and chemical surface processes.

While standardized classification systems have been developed over more than a century for terrestrial soils, no comparable framework yet exists for the Moon. In this article, the principles of pedology are adapted to lunar conditions by identifying soil-forming processes, and a classification system tailored to the lunar environment is proposed.

Additionally, the researchers have applied their framework to a core collected by the Apollo 15 astronauts in 1971. The proposed labeling system denotes seven ancient, buried horizons recording successive stages of lunar surface evolution. By interpreting this hidden history, the researchers showed how soils have formed and can be systematically described, classified and mapped. If lunar exploration progresses to sustainable habitation, a consistent soil framework will be pivotal for future explorers to understand and manage the unfamiliar ground beneath their feet.

This article is part of a special section, “Astropedology in Space Exploration: Exploring soils across the Solar System,” in the Soil Science Society of America Journal.