Abstract
Whitepaper #219 submitted to the Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey 2023-2032. Topics: interior evolution and volcanism; Mercury and/or the Moon; solar system formation, dynamics processes, and chronology
Highlights
Seismic experiments were deployed on the Moon by the astronauts during the Apollo missions
Seismology can answer questions about the current structure of the Moon, and help us understand more about its formation and evolution
Shaking lasts for around thirty minutes for the deep moonquake, and over an hour for the other examples. This pattern, which is characteristic of lunar seismology, is explained as a strongly scattering layer, with very low attenuation of the signal
Summary
Seismic experiments were deployed on the Moon by the astronauts during the Apollo missions. These experiments were part of the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package (ALSEP). Seismologists have observed and categorized several types of moonquakes, and over 13,000 seismic arrivals were recorded by the seismometers[1]. These include deep moonquakes, meteoroid impacts, shallow moonquakes, thermal quakes and artificial impacts. Penetrators dropped from lunar orbit or ejected from a soft-lander during landing could provide a low-cost, low-risk, delivery mechanism for seismometers engineered to survive a hard landing
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