The Earth’s satellite becomes colder and smaller, and in the process it wrinkles like a raisin. This can lead to moonquakes, dust and debris avalanches – and could be dangerous for moon travelers, researchers warn.
As if NASA didn’t already have enough problems getting spaceships, landers and suits ready in time for the return to the moon, currently planned for September 2026. Now she may also have to prepare her astronauts for moonquakes. Not only that: If the new moonwalkers go on an exploration tour as planned on the lunar surface around the planned landing region near the South Pole – that’s the point of the whole undertaking – they should avoid slopes that are too steep. There is a risk of lunar avalanches of dust and rubble, as the loosely packed lunar soil often comes loose as a result of the earthquakes, reports a team of researchers from NASA and US universities in the latest issue of the specialist magazine The Planetary Science Journal. For their study, the scientists evaluated high-resolution images and then used a computer to simulate how the lunar soil on their slopes would behave under certain earthquake strengths.