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A Massive New Moon Crater Is Raising Questions About Future Lunar Bases

A fresh 728-foot-wide lunar crater highlights the danger of impacts—and flying debris—for astronauts living on the Moon.

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A newly discovered, massive lunar crater complicates plans to set up human colonies on the Moon. According to a study published in Science Advances, NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spotted a fresh, 728-foot-wide crater named McGetchin, created when a large space rock struck the Moon’s eastern edge in early 2024.

The impact created a 141-foot-deep pit, deep enough to stack three school buses and end them. It blasted out a four-mile-wide “cold spot” of disrupted lunar........

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