Overview
- High-speed, multi-station observations since the 1990s have definitively linked millisecond-to-second flashes to meteoroid strikes.
- NELIOTA has logged 193 confirmed lunar impact flashes, and a 2024 analysis co-authored by the project’s lead reports an almost homogeneous impact distribution.
- Minutes-long glows are plausibly explained by radon outgassing from the lunar interior, supported by peer-reviewed studies from 2008 and 2009.
- Hours-long sightings remain unresolved, with proposals such as solar-wind–charged dust competing with explanations like satellite or observational misidentifications.
- Systematic TLP monitoring informs estimates of current meteoroid bombardment and supports risk assessment for lunar orbiters and future surface bases.