The last time time humans landed on the moon was in 1972 and among other things left behind was bottom half of the lunar lander that shuttled the astronauts to the lunar surface. Now, researchers has determined that frequent tiny tremors—moonquakes—that they've measured are likely caused by the big hunk of space junk. Caltech computational geophysicist Francesco Civilini used machine learning tools to analyze data collected by seismometers in the 1970s and triangulate the source of the moonquakes.
From CNN:
Massive temperature swings that occur on the moon can cause human-made structures to expand and contract in a way that produces these vibrations, the report suggests. The lunar surface is an extreme environment, oscillating between minus 208 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 133 degrees Celsius) in the dark and 250 degrees Fahrenheit (121 degrees Celsius) in direct sun, according to a news release about the study[…]
Understanding moonquakes could be essential to future exploration, experts said, should NASA and its partners build a permanent outpost on the moon's surface — a goal of Artemis, the agency's lunar exploration program.
"How strong do we need to build our structures, and what other hazards do we need to mitigate for?" Dr. Angela Marusiak, an assistant research professor at the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, said of the questions that this type of data analysis can help answer.
