By 
September 21st, 2024
Earth’s moon is viewed as a major construction site as roads, shelters, launch and landing pads are emplaced to sustain a permanent foothold on this celestial destination.
Image credit: Astroport Space Technologies
New research indicates that potential landing sites at the moon’s south pole for robotic landers and crewed Artemis missions are susceptible to quakes and landslides.
Science results published early this year point to a group of faults located in the moon’s south polar region, making use of data on moonquakes recorded by seismometers set up by Apollo moonwalkers over 50 years ago.
More power to you! LUNARSABER is a Honeybee Robotics concept selected by DARPA’s LunA-10 program. LUNARSABER utilizes onboard gimbaled lights to illuminate local terrain during lunar night.
Image credit: Honeybee Robotics
“The potential of strong seismic events from active thrust faults should be considered when preparing and locating permanent outposts and pose a possible hazard to future robotic and human exploration of the south polar region,” the research paper explains.
The installation of habitats, landing pads, equipment shelters, tall towers on the moon could be off to a shaky start, suggests Nerma Caluk, an intermediate designer and lunar specialist for Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, an architecture and structural engineering firm in San Francisco, California.
For more information, go to my new Space.com story – “Moonquakes could ‘pose a possible hazard’ to Artemis moon missions, study finds” — at:
Posted in Space News
