When people go to the moon, they will have to choose their landing site more carefully. Because, no matter how serene the world may seem to us, the Moon from Earth, in fact, the satellite of our planet is very restless. Tectonic activity leads to the fact that "moonquakes" occur quite often, as scientists write in a report published in Nature Geoscience. We know that the moon shudders because on its surface there are four seismometers installed in the final stages of the Apollo program.

Are there earthquakes on the moon? And how!

These instruments were written off in 1977, but for seven years while the seismometers were working, they registered 28 lunar earthquakes with a magnitude of 1.5 to 5 on the Richter scale. A five-point earthquake can damage a spacecraft or a lunar base nearby.

There are a number of theories about the causes of earthquakes, including collisions with meteorites or the gravitational effects of the Earth and the Sun. A group of scientists re-analyzed the data along with the image analysis obtained by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter after launch in 2009.

Circling around the moon, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter took pictures of its surface with an ultra-precise camera. Analysis of the images shows that the lunar surface is covered with shallow, shallow, rocky features: cracks and faults.

According to Thomas Watters, a senior fellow at the Center for Earth and Planet Studies in Washington, who led the team, the cracks are scattered in craters that are less than 50 million years old, so they should be relatively recent. Images also show that lunar boulders have shifted in recent decades, indicating seismic activity.

This study also sheds some light on the inner composition of the moon. Since there is no plate tectonics on the Moon, like on Earth, it is believed that lunar earthquakes are caused by both the cooling of the bowels of the moon and gravitational gravity.

However, small moon earthquakes may indicate that the moon has a warm and possibly even molten core. This is despite the general scientific rule that smaller rocky bodies cool faster, says Watters.

NASA is currently working to bring people back to the moon by 2024. The Agency will have to take into account the possibility of the occurrence of lunar earthquakes in order not to accidentally settle in an “active” area.

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