New research shows that as the moon's interior cooled over hundreds of millions of years, its circumference decreased by more than 45 meters. This contraction created internal wrinkle-like fault lines, capable of causing continuous earthquakes.
One such earthquake was linked by the scientists to a group of fault lines in the South Pole region, near sites proposed as possible targets for the landing of the Artemis III mission in 2026. The loose and unstable lunar soil means that such tremors can easily cause dangerous landslides, especially in areas with a steep slope.