Yes, the Moon experiences seismic activity, and it’s more common than most people expect. Between 1969 and 1977, seismometers placed on the lunar surface by Apollo astronauts recorded thousands of moonquakes, revealing a world that is far from geologically dead. These quakes come in several distinct varieties, driven by everything from Earth’s gravitational pull to the Moon’s own slow shrinkage.
Four Types of Moonquakes
Apollo-era seismic instruments detected four categories of moonquakes, each with a different cause and character.
Deep moonquakes were the most frequently recorded type. They originate roughly 800 to 1,200 kilometers below the surface, deep within the lunar interior. Earth’s gravitational tug is the primary driver: as tidal forces flex the Moon’s interior, they generate enough stress to fracture rock at depth. These quakes are generally mild and pose no structural concern.
Shallow moonquakes are the most powerful. They originate at depths of only 20 to 30 kilometers and can register up to 5.5 on the Richter scale. That’s strong enough to damage structures on Earth, and on the Moon, the shaking can last over 10 minutes.
Thermal moonquakes are caused by extreme temperature swings on the lunar surface. With no atmosphere to buffer heat, the ground can shift by hundreds of degrees between lunar day and night. That expansion and contraction cracks and shifts surface rock, producing small seismic signals. Apollo 17 data revealed two subtypes of thermal quakes: “repeating” events that cluster during early sunrise and come from consistent directions, and “isolated” events scattered throughout the lunar day from many different directions.
Meteorite impacts round out the list. Without an atmosphere to burn up incoming debris, even small rocks slam into the surface at high speed, generating seismic waves detectable across the Moon.
Why Moonquakes Last So Long
One of the most striking differences between moonquakes and earthquakes is duration. A magnitude 5.5 earthquake on Earth typically shakes for less than a minute. A comparable shallow moonquake can ring for 10 minutes or more. The reason comes down to water. Earth’s crust contains moisture that absorbs seismic energy and dampens vibrations relatively quickly. The Moon’s bone-dry rock has almost no capacity to absorb that energy, so seismic waves bounce around and reverberate far longer than they would on our planet.
The Moon Is Still Shrinking
Moonquakes aren’t just a relic of the Apollo era. The Moon’s interior is still slowly cooling, and as it does, the entire body contracts. NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has photographed thousands of relatively young thrust faults across the lunar surface, geological scars formed when the contracting crust buckles and one slab of rock pushes up and over another. These faults are direct evidence of ongoing seismic activity.
A NASA-funded study found that the strongest recorded shallow moonquake had its epicenter in the south polar region, the same area targeted for NASA’s Artemis crewed landings. The researchers modeled fault activity near the de Gerlache crater rim, one of the Artemis III candidate landing sites, and concluded that the formation of a young thrust fault there could have been associated with a quake matching the magnitude of the strongest shallow moonquakes on record.
The study also found that some slopes in the south polar region are vulnerable to regolith landslides triggered by even light seismic shaking, including areas within permanently shadowed craters where ice deposits are a key target for exploration.
Building for Moonquakes
These findings have prompted engineers to start thinking seriously about seismic safety on the Moon. Researchers have already begun adapting earthquake engineering methods for lunar construction, using probabilistic hazard analysis to estimate how intense shaking could get at specific south polar locations. One recent study in Acta Astronautica examined dome-shaped shelters made from lunar-derived materials and calculated the minimum wall thickness needed to remain stable during a moonquake. The work produced preliminary design guidelines based on converting expected ground accelerations into structural loads, similar in principle to how buildings on Earth are designed to withstand earthquakes.
Compression structures like arches and domes appear well suited for the lunar environment because they can be built from local regolith and naturally distribute forces. But getting the geometry right matters: too thin or too steep, and a dome could fail under lateral seismic loading that would barely register on Earth.
What Scientists Still Don’t Know
Apollo seismometers only covered a small patch of the Moon’s near side. The far side remained almost entirely unmonitored, and the data showed puzzlingly few quakes originating there. Whether the far side is genuinely quieter or simply wasn’t detectable from near-side instruments is an open question.
NASA’s Farside Seismic Suite, currently planned for a 2027 launch, aims to fill that gap. The mission will deliver two seismometers to the far side, including a vertical broadband sensor originally built as a spare for the InSight Mars lander. That instrument can detect ground motions smaller than a single hydrogen atom. Over a planned operational life of at least four and a half months, the suite will measure far-side moonquakes and meteorite impacts for the first time, record the Moon’s seismic background hum from micrometeorite strikes, and help map the interior structure in ways Apollo never could.
The data will also directly support Artemis planning by revealing how often the lunar surface gets hit by tiny rocks, a safety concern for astronauts working outside shelters for extended periods.