---
title: "New Research: The Moon Is Covered With Miles-Deep Cracks"
description: "A new study revealed that the Moon has much deeper scars from billions of years of asteroid impacts than initially thought."
date: "2019-04-23"
modified: "2019-04-23"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/moon-surface-huge-cracks"
categories:
  - "Astronomy"
  - "Moon"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "asteroids"
  - "moon"
  - "planet"
  - "the digest"
---

# New Research: The Moon Is Covered With Miles-Deep Cracks

![](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/moon-surface-huge-cracks.png>)
*\<em\>Image: NASA\</em\>*

## Cracked

A new study revealed that the Moon has much deeper scars, from billions of years of asteroid impacts, than previously believed.

"We found that impacts break the lunar crust into roughly meter‐sized blocks," the abstract of the [study's paper](<https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2018JE005757>) published in the *Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets* last month reads. "Impacts can break up the lunar crust down to approximately 20 km, and objects greater than 1 km in diameter are the most efficient at fragmenting the crust."

## Asteroid Storm

A computer simulation of asteroid impact events found that some of the cracks left behind penetrate 12 miles (20 kilometers) below the Moon's surface.

The researchers found that lunar megaregolith — the lesser studied top-most layer of the Moon's crust — was likely fragmented very early in its history. By studying how and when planetary crusts were shaped, we could one day "determine if and when these environments became habitable," according to the paper.

"There's quite a lot of damage outside of the main crater area," Sean Wiggins, lead author from Brown University in Rhode Island, [told *Live Science*](<https://www.livescience.com/65298-impacts-cracked-the-moon.html>). "Material is still very broken up, farther away than we would have predicted."

**READ MORE:** [The Moon's Surface Is Totally Cracked](<https://www.livescience.com/65298-impacts-cracked-the-moon.html>) \[*Live Science*\]

**More on the lunar research:** *[Meteoroid Strikes Smash Water out of the Moon's Surface](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/meteoroid-strikes-rob-moon-surface-water>)*

## Author
I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/vtanger.bsky.social>)