New Moon Craters Are Forming Faster, Raises Concern About Future Lunar Missions

New moon craters are appearing on the lunar surface 100 times more frequently than previously thought, as per a new study. In fact, the moon gets hit by space rock so frequently that its surface reportedly gets a total facelift every 81,000 years.

The findings, which were published on journal Nature, also estimated that comets and asteroids crash on the lunar surface to create an average of 180 new moon craters every year, which measure at least 10 meters in diameter. The study was based on 14,000 pairs of "before and after" images captured by Nasa's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft, which has been mapping our natural satellite since 2009. After comparing pictures taken of the same area on the moon at regular intervals, it was seen that 222 more impact craters had formed after the first LRO images were taken, which translated to 33% more craters with diameters of at least 10 meters across.

"When looking at just a single image, many of the newly formed features are indistinguishable from their surroundings," said Emerson Speyerer, study lead author. "It's only with these detailed comparisons with previous images that we can separate out these small surface changes."

In addition, the scientists also discovered thousands of "scars" on the moon created by secondary impacts that churned up the top layer of the lunar surface without forming craters over a period of thousands of years. According to the scientists, the new discovery also suggests that many of the young features on the lunar surface, including volcanic deposits, could be younger than previously estimated.

The recent findings related to moon craters also raises concerns about future missions to the moon, due to the increase in risk of being hit by falling space rocks. As per the scientists, although the chances of something on the moon's surface suffering from a direct hit due to comet or asteroid debris is less, there could be probable dangers from the rocks kicked up by such impacts. The researching team feels that future bases and surface assets on the moon have to be designed to hold up against impacts of small particles hitting at 500 meter per second.