Examining a new lunar crater + searching for signs of alien technology
Science Friday

Examining a new lunar crater + searching for signs of alien technology

B2Upper-intermediateSeptember 30, 202618 min

In 2024, scientists using instruments on board the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft spotted a new large impact crater on the surface of the moon. Tyler Powell joins host Flora Lichtman to describe what they found, and what scientists are learning about the lunar surface from studying it. After, Sofia Sheikh describes different approaches to hunting for intelligent alien life through ‘technosignatures’. These are technological traces that could only be produced by intelligent life, like radio transmissions, industrial pollution, or city lights at night. Researchers from the SETI Institute have proposed sifting through lunar dust to look for tiny trace...

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But there is a new kid on the block that's getting some attention.

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about the size of two football fields across and over 140 feet deep. And lunar scientists

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0:00

Hey, it's Flora and you're listening to Science Friday. Next time you look up at the moon, take a moment to consider its craters. Because the moon's surface is so stable—no rain, no wind, no erupting volcanoes—the craters you see on the moon may have been there for millions, even billions, of years.

0:23

But there is a new kid on the block that's getting some attention. between April 11th and May 22nd, 2024, something smacked into the moon, creating a new crater about the size of two football fields across and over 140 feet deep. And lunar scientists are excited. Dr. Tyler Powell is a planetary scientist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics

0:47

Laboratory. Hey, Tyler, welcome to Science Friday. Hey, Flora. Thanks for having me. for being here. So is that true? Are you indeed excited about this? Yeah, yeah, it's super exciting. That's a really cool reminder that the moon and planets are

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