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Scientific research indicates that the Moon is shrinking as its internal cools, getting more than about 50 m skinnier over the last several hundred million years. This makes our satellite's surface crust brittle, so it breaks forming “thrust faults”. These faults are still active and produce moonquakes. According to data from a study funded by NASA and published on 25 January 2024 in the Planetary Science Journal, moonquakes and faults are also present near the lunar South Pole, where 13 candidate regions for the first crewed Moon landing (Artemis III mission) have been identified. Shallow moonquakes, associated with the formation of thrust faults, were recorded by the Apollo Passive Seismic Network in the 1970s, a series of seismometers deployed by the Apollo astronauts. The strongest recorded shallow moonquake had an epicenter just in the south-polar region. To better understand the seismic risk posed to future human activities on the Moon, scientists need new seismic data not just at the South Pole, but globally. Article➡️https://t.co/EDLZBJ7sb7 Paper Tectonics and Seismicity of the Lunar South Polar Region ➡️https://t.co/OmC2za0BDf -------------------------- Video: This visualization of Lee Lincoln scarp is created from Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) photographs and elevation mapping. The scarp is a low ridge or step about 80 m high and running north-south through the western end of the Taurus-Littrow valley, the site of the Apollo 17 Moon landing. The scarp marks the location of a relatively young, low-angle thrust fault. Source➡️https://t.co/pSRrkCT4qA #Moon #artemis3