The Moon Is Shrinking by 6–11 cm per Million Years as It Cools

A new study in The Planetary Science Journal led by Thomas Watters refined the Moon's contraction rate to about 6–11 cm per million years. LRO images revealed thousands of young thrust fault scarps 300–400 million years old that may trigger shallow moonquakes and landslides, posing a hazard for future lunar missions.

• The Moon contracts by 6–11 cm per million years, or about 0.1 micrometers per year
• LRO has mapped over 98% of the lunar surface at 100-meter resolution in 17 years
• Scarps 300–400 million years old are linked to shallow moonquakes and landslides
• Contraction began when stress shifted from extension to compression about 3.6 billion years ago