NASA Spacecraft Finds Record New Crater on Moon
NASA Spacecraft Finds Record New Crater on Moon
The News
NASA scientists have confirmed a new crater on the moon that is bigger than the Roman Colosseum — the largest known recent impact in the solar system.
The strike happened in 2024, but nobody noticed it at the time. It was identified only after a delayed review of data from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.
The findings were published Tuesday in two studies in the journal Science Advances.
The Numbers
The crater measures 728 feet across and up to 141 feet deep. Researchers estimate an impact that big happens roughly once every 132 years. It is three times larger than the previous record-holder, which the same orbiter found.
Debris from the blast scattered across more than 66 miles of the lunar surface, and a cold spot about 4 miles wide surrounds the crater — consistent with topsoil loosened by the impact.
Timeline
An object slams into the moon, carving out the crater. No telescope detects the impact in real time.
Two studies describing the crater are published in Science Advances after a delayed review of Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter data.
The discovery is reported publicly, with researchers calling it the solar system's largest known recent impact crater.
Reactions
Mark Robinson, lead author of one of the studies, said the churn of lunar soil means the Apollo astronauts' footprints will not last forever. Within the time frame researchers calculated, he said, they will "definitely be long gone."
Researchers said the impact overturned material at a higher angle than they expected, giving them new data on how strikes reshape the lunar surface.
What's Next
NASA engineers plan to feed the debris-risk calculations from the crater into decisions about how much to harden a planned lunar base.
Two questions are still open: what hit the moon — an asteroid fragment or a comet — and why no telescope caught the impact as it happened.
More
Orbiter data indicate the top inch of the moon's soil is overturned by ejected material every 80,000 years — faster than scientists previously estimated.
That matters for anything left on the surface, from equipment to the tracks and gear from the Apollo landings.
Poll
Should NASA redesign its planned lunar base around this new debris-risk data?
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