NASA spacecraft discovers a huge new crater on the moon
Scientists say the impact churned lunar soil across 66 miles and left a 4-mile-wide cold spot, offering rare data for future moon bases.
- NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter discovered a massive new crater on the lunar surface, detailed in two studies appearing Wednesday in Science Advances, lead author Mark Robinson said.
- Named for the late Thomas McGetchin, a former director of Houston's Lunar and Planetary Institute, the crater spans about 728 feet across and is up to 141 feet deep.
- Co-Author David Paige of the University of California, Los Angeles, likens the impact to gardening, with sediments churned across more than 66 miles of the lunar surface.
- Scientists aim to calculate risks of ejected material striking NASA's planned lunar base, as such impacts occur once every 132 years, helping engineers harden structures.
- The LRO shows the lunar top inch of soil is overturned every 80,000 years, meaning Apollo moonwalkers' footprints will "definitely be long gone in that time frame," Robinson said.
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Named "McGetchin" - in tribute to a famous lunar geophysicist - this 222-metre-diameter crater would have been caused by the crushing in the spring of 2024 of a comet or asteroid on the lunar surface, explains the Nasa. First passed under the radars, it was spotted almost by chance by an American researcher working with the data of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera, a probe of the Nasa that has been studying our satellite since 2009. Appea…
Scientists believe the crater was created in 2024 from a comet or asteroid colliding with the Moon, and that impacts of that magnitude happening about once a century.
NASA spacecraft discovers giant new crater on Moon that went undetected for nearly two years
NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has identified a huge new crater on the Moon created by an asteroid or comet fragment in May 2024. Measuring about 728 feet wide and 141 feet deep, it is the largest known recent lunar impact crater.
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