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11h ago

Study Warns Moonquakes and Thrust Faults Endanger Long-Term Lunar Habitats

Researchers urge seismic hazard assessments in site selection to guide resilient infrastructure against tidal and cooling-driven quakes.

Image
A scene from a visualization of the Lee-Lincoln scarp in Taurus-Littrow on the Moon. This scarp is evidence of moonquakes that sent rocks and landslides across the surface. Seismometers left on the Moon by Apollo astronauts recorded hundreds of events between 1969 and 1977, including 28 shallow moonquakes. The study narrowed the locations of these quakes and found that many of them occurred near scarps, implying that the forces creating the scarps also caused the quakes, and they continue to shape the lunar surface. The Lee-Lincoln scarp was only about 13 kilometers from one of the epicenters identified by the scientists. Credit: NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio

Overview

  • A Science Advances paper combining Apollo 17 rock samples and surface observations in the Taurus-Littrow valley finds seismic activity over the past 90 million years and infers thousands of young thrust faults across the Moon.
  • Long-duration habitats face roughly a 1-in-5,500 chance of experiencing a hazardous moonquake over a decade, making permanent outposts far more vulnerable than short stays.
  • Moonquakes originate chiefly from Earth’s tidal pull and the Moon’s ongoing cooling and contraction, which create scarps and faults capable of triggering magnitude-3 tremors that can last for hours.
  • Critical infrastructure proposals, including planned nuclear power plants by the U.S., Russia and China, could be especially susceptible to quake damage and will require engineered safety margins.
  • NASA plans to deploy new seismometers on the lunar far side and include a seismic monitoring payload on Artemis III to re-establish and modernize the Moon’s seismic network for real-time hazard assessment.