Latest news with #DavidKring
Voice of America
09-02-2025
- Science
- Voice of America
Study: Asteroid Hit Created Two ‘Grand Canyons' on Moon
A new study suggests an asteroid strike on the moon billions of years ago left two huge valleys about the size of Earth's Grand Canyon. Researchers from the United States and Britain said their research shows the two steep valleys, or canyons, likely formed in less than 10 minutes. They noted the crash, or impact, happened near the south pole on the far side of the moon. That is the side of the moon which always faces away from Earth. The area is known as the Schrödinger impact basin. The speed of the incoming object – which the team said might have been a comet – was estimated to be around 55,000 kilometers per hour. The strike likely happened about 3.8 billion years ago. The researchers used data collected by a spacecraft operated by the American space agency NASA. That vehicle, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, has been capturing lunar data since entering orbit around the moon in June 2009. One main goal of the orbiter's mission was to create a highly detailed, three-dimensional, or 3D, map of the moon. The data has been used by NASA to learn more about lunar resources and to plan for future missions. The agency noted that the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter had 'already collected as much data as all other planetary missions combined.' The team studying the canyons used the orbiter's map data to simulate the path of the incoming object, as well as material that was displaced by the crash. The scientists recently published a study describing their results in Nature Communications. The group's simulations suggested the space rock passed over the south pole before hitting. It then created a huge basin and launched rocky materials at speeds up to 1 kilometer per second. The researchers said material was sent flying and struck the lunar surface like missiles. This resulted in the creation of the canyons. The team said the canyons appear comparable in size to the Grand Canyon, in the U.S. state of Arizona. The study's lead writer was David Kring of the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston. He told the Associated Press that findings suggest the asteroid strike was a 'very violent' geologic process. Kring and his team estimated the asteroid was 25 kilometers across. They estimated that the energy needed to create the two canyons would have been more than 130 times greater than the power of all the world's current nuclear weapons. Kring said most of the rock and debris was thrown in a direction away from the south pole. That finding is good news for NASA which plans to land astronauts in that area in the future. Kring noted it should improve the exploration possibilities of future astronauts. "Because debris from the Schrödinger impact was jettisoned away from the lunar south pole, ancient rocks in the polar region will be at or close to the surface…,' Kring told Reuters news agency. This should make it easier for future American astronauts to collect them. NASA's future lunar exploration plans are known as the agency's Artemis program. The program aims to return astronauts to the moon for the first time since NASA's Apollo 17 mission in 1972. The agency's current plan is to send astronauts on a trip around the moon next year. That would be followed a year or so later by a landing attempt on the lunar surface. The researchers said older rocks in the area can help scientists gain a better understanding of the moon's past history. They could also help answer questions about the formation of Earth. Kring noted it is currently not clear whether the two huge canyons are permanently shadowed like some of the craters at the moon's south pole. 'That is something that we're clearly going to be reexamining,' he said. I'm Bryan Lynn. Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English, based on reports from The Associated Press, Reuters, The Universities Space Research Association and Nature Communications. Quiz - Study: Asteroid Hit Created Two 'Grand Canyons' on Moon Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz __________________________________________________ Words in This Story asteroid – n. a rocky object that goes around the sun like a planet comet – n. an object in space that leaves a bright line behind it in the sky three-dimensional (3D) –adj. having height, width and length simulate – v. to do or make something that behaves or looks like something real but is not basin – n. a low area of land from which water flows into another body jettison – v. throwing material from one place to another shadow – n. a dark area made by something blocking the light
Yahoo
06-02-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
35,000 mph speeding rocks ripped 2.2-mile-deep canyons on moon in 10 minutes
The moon's south pole has dramatic terrain. A new study reveals that this region — already known for mountains taller than Everest — also harbors canyons deeper than the Earth's Grand Canyon. Insights from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter have uncovered that gigantic canyons were carved in mere minutes by floods of rock traveling at breakneck speeds. The orbiter provided insights into two lunar canyons: Vallis Schrödinger and Vallis Planck. Vallis Schrödinger stretches 167 miles (270 km) long and nearly 1.7 miles (2.7 km) deep. Vallis Planck is even more immense, measuring 174 miles (280 km) long and almost 2.2 miles deep (3.5 km). As compared, the Earth's natural wonder is shallower — 277 miles (446 km) long and about 1.2 miles (1.9 km) deep. These two features formed during intense asteroid and comet impacts in the early years, which reshaped the Earth and Moon. "Nearly four billion years ago, an asteroid or comet flew over the lunar south pole, brushed by the mountain summits of Malapert and Mouton, and hit the lunar surface,' said David Kring, lead author from the Universities Space Research Association (USRA). 'The impact ejected high-energy streams of rock that carved two canyons that are the size of Earth's Grand Canyon. While the Grand Canyon took millions of years to form, the two grand canyons on the Moon were carved in less than 10 minutes," Kring added. "The impacting asteroid or comet likely hit the lunar surface with a speed of nearly 55,000 kilometers per hour (35,000 miles per hour)," as per the press lunar giants were carved by cataclysmic events related to the formation of the Schrödinger basin, a massive impact crater about 200 miles wide (320 km). It formed by an impact 3.81 billion years ago and is located around 600 km from the South Pole. This basin is based on the edge of the even larger and older South Pole-Aitken basin, a 1,490-mile-wide (2,400 km) crater dating back 4.2 to 4.3 billion years. The team analyzed the Schrödinger basin using photos sent by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. This analysis helped to decode how the Vallis Schrödinger and Vallis Planck canyons formed. Moreover, they mapped the area to determine the speed and direction of debris from the impact that created the Schrödinger basin. Lunar debris slammed into the surface at speeds approaching "1 kilometer per second (3600 kilometers per hour or 2237 miles per hour)." As the debris struck, it created rays of secondary impacts that sculpted the lunar canyons. "The Schrödinger crater is similar in many regards to the dino-killing Chicxulub crater on Earth. By showing how Schrödinger's km-deep canyons were carved, this work has helped to illuminate how energetic the ejecta from these impacts can be," said Gareth Collins, the co-author, in the press release. The sheer energy involved in creating these canyons is mind-boggling. Scientists calculate it was over 130 times the energy contained in the world's current nuclear arsenal. The Colorado River carved this steep-sided Grand Canyon in Arizona over millions of years. The difference lies in the erosional force. The researchers explain powerful streams of rock carved in lunar canyons in minutes. The impact that created the Schrödinger basin scattered debris unevenly. The area closer to the South Pole-Aitken basin has less debris cover. This makes it a potentially easier location for astronauts to collect samples from the moon's early period. The findings were published in the journal Nature Communications.
Yahoo
06-02-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Moon Grand Canyon carved out in less than 10 minutes by bullet-fast space rocks
Two gorges on the Moon that are deeper than the Grand Canyon were carved out in less than 10 minutes by space rocks travelling at the speed of a bullet, astronomers have revealed. The Moon canyons, which are located in the Schrödinger impact basin, formed roughly 3.8 billion years ago when rocky debris from an asteroid or comet struck the lunar surface. Measuring 2.6 kilometres at its deepest point, the Vallis Planck gorge is roughly 800 metres deeper than the Grand Canyon in Arizona. New observations from scientists at the Lunar and Planetary Institute of the Universities Space Research Association in Houston suggest the impact of the space rocks was around 130 times greater than the combined energy potential of all the world's nuclear weapons. Unlike the sudden appearance of the Moon canyons, the Earth's Grand Canyon formed over millions of years as the Colorado River gradually eroded through the rock. Using data from Nasa's robotic Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft, the researchers were able to estimate that the debris was travelling at speeds of around 3600 km per hour –similar to that of a bullet. 'When the impacting asteroid or comet hit the lunar surface, it excavated a tremendous volume of rock that was launched into space above the lunar surface before it came crashing back down,' said geologist David Kring from the Lunar and Planetary Institute of the Universities Space Research Association. 'Knots of rock within that curtain of debris hit the surface in a series of smaller impact events, effectively carving the canyons. Adjacent to the canyons, the debris would have covered the landscape.' The revelations will assist future lunar exploration, with the Schrödinger impact basin located close to the destination of the first astronauts taking part in Nasa's Artemis mission to the Moon. 'Because debris from the Schrödinger impact was jettisoned away from the lunar south pole, ancient rocks in the polar region will be at or close to the surface, where Artemis astronauts will be able to collect them,' Dr Kring said. 'Thus, it will be easier for astronauts to collect samples from the earliest epoch of lunar history.' The Moon canyons were detailed in a paper, titled 'Grand canyons on the Moon', published in Nature Communications on Tuesday.
Nahar Net
05-02-2025
- Science
- Nahar Net
How an ancient asteroid strike carved out 2 grand canyons on the moon
by Naharnet Newsdesk 05 February 2025, 17:27 New research shows that when an asteroid slammed into the moon billions of years ago, it carved out a pair of grand canyons on the lunar far side. That's good news for scientists and NASA, which is looking to land astronauts at the south pole on the near, Earth-facing side untouched by that impact and containing older rocks in original condition. U.S. and British scientists used photos and data from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter to map the area and calculate the path of debris that produced these canyons about 3.8 billion years ago. They reported their findings Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications. The incoming space rock passed over the lunar south pole before hitting, creating a huge basin and sending streams of boulders hurtling at a speed of nearly 1 mile a second (1 kilometer a second). The debris landed like missiles, digging out two canyons comparable in size to Arizona's Grand Canyon in barely 10 minutes. The latter, by comparison, took millions of years to form. "This was a very violent, a very dramatic geologic process," said lead author David Kring of the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston. Kring and his team estimate the asteroid was 15 miles (25 kilometers) across and that the energy needed to create these two canyons would have been more than 130 times that in the world's current inventory of nuclear weapons. Most of the ejected debris was thrown in a direction away from the south pole, Kring said. That means NASA's targeted exploration zone around the pole mostly on the moon's near side won't be buried under debris, keeping older rocks from 4 billion plus years ago exposed for collection by moonwalkers. These older rocks can help shed light not only on the moon's origins, but also Earth's. Kring said it's unclear whether these two canyons are permanently shadowed like some of the craters at the moon's south pole. "That is something that we're clearly going to be reexamining," he said. Permanently shadowed areas at the bottom of the moon are thought to hold considerable ice, which could be turned into rocket fuel and drinking water by future moonwalkers. NASA's Artemis program, the successor to Apollo, aims to return astronauts to the moon this decade. The plan is to send astronauts around the moon next year, followed a year or so later by the first lunar touchdown by astronauts since Apollo.
CNN
05-02-2025
- Science
- CNN
Two Grand Canyon-size valleys on the far side of the moon formed within 10 minutes, scientists say
About 3.8 billion years ago, two massive canyons likely formed on the moon in a span of less than 10 minutes, according to new research. The extraordinary formations, each comparable in size to Earth's Grand Canyon, are hidden on the far side of the moon — the side that always faces away from Earth — near the lunar south pole, where NASA's Artemis III mission aims to land humans in late 2026. The lunar canyons are both part of the larger Schrödinger impact basin, where an object yet to be identified slammed into the moon billions of years ago. The colossal impact likely also led to the creation of the canyons as well, according to a new study published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications. The energy unleashed that created the canyons was 1,200 to 2,200 times more powerful than the nuclear explosion energy once planned to excavate a second Panama Canal, the study authors estimate. Future missions could visit the basin and take rock samples to help scientists better understand the murky origins and history of the moon. Studying the moon also could reveal what conditions were like early on in the solar system as asteroids and other rocky debris collided with planets and moons. 'The record of early Solar System bombardment has been erased from the Earth,' said lead study author Dr. David Kring, principal scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute, an institute of the Universities Space Research Association, in an email. 'It was destroyed by erosion, plate tectonics, and other geologic processes. If we want (to) understand how impact events affected the early Earth, we have to collect samples from places on the Moon like the Schrödinger basin and its canyons.' Piecing together an ancient impact Canyons and ravines created by streaks of rocky debris radiate from Schrödinger basin. Lunar geologists have always known that the two canyons featured in the new study, called Vallis Schrödinger and Vallis Planck, were particularly large. The research team behind the latest report, however, was able to analyze images of the massive geological features using photos and elevation data captured by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has been circling the moon since 2009. The data allowed the team to construct maps of the region, including the basin and its surroundings. The measurements showed these two canyons were similar in width and length to the Grand Canyon. Vallis Schrödinger is 168 miles (270 kilometers) long and 1.7 miles (2.7 kilometers) deep, and Vallis Planck is 174 miles (280 kilometers) long and 2.2 miles (3.5 kilometers) deep. 'I have trained students and astronauts in the vicinity of the Grand Canyon, and taken several river trips through the Grand Canyon, so I realized the Grand Canyon was an important way to help people understand the dramatic scale of the lunar landscape,' Kring said. The spacecraft data also helped the researchers determine the distances along each canyon from the point of impact. The team used the distances in impact cratering calculations to figure out the velocities of the rocks that produced the canyons and the sizes of the material in those rock streams, Kring said. The calculations enabled the researchers to fit together what they think happened 3.8 billion years ago during a time when asteroid and comets were bombarding Earth and the moon. 'Nearly four billion years ago, an asteroid or comet flew over the lunar south pole, brushed by the mountain summits of Malapert and Mouton, and hit the lunar surface,' Kring said. 'The impact ejected high-energy streams of rock that carved two canyons … in less than 10 minutes.' For comparison, it took 5 million to 6 million years for water to erode the landscape of Arizona to create the Grand Canyon. The celestial object that plowed into the moon likely hit with a speed of more than 34,000 miles per hour (nearly 55,000 kilometers per hour). The impactor created the Schrödinger basin, which is nearly 200 miles (320 kilometers) wide, while also propelling debris that carved deep grooves leading away from the basin. Then, the ejected debris that created the canyons likely soared over the lunar surface and then collided with it at speeds of about 2,237 miles per hour (3,600 kilometers per hour). These secondary impact craters formed the canyons, according to the study. Investigating lunar history The energy of the impacts that created the canyons was on a gargantuan scale. The study authors estimate it was more than 700 times greater than the total yield of nuclear explosion tests conducted by the United States, the former Soviet Union and China. The energy of the blasts was also about 130 times more destructive than the energy in the worldwide stockpile of nuclear weapons, according to the study. While many impact craters on Earth have long disappeared due to erosion and other natural factors, the moon's craters can help researchers better understand what happened on Earth billions of years ago. 'The Schrödinger crater is similar in many regards to the dino-killing Chicxulub crater on Earth,' said study coauthor Gareth Collins, professor of planetary science at Imperial College London, in a statement. 'By showing how Schrödinger's (kilometers)-deep canyons were carved, this work has helped to illuminate how energetic the ejecta from these impacts can be.' Noah Petro, NASA project scientist for both the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and Artemis III, which aims to land humans on the moon for the first time since 1972, believes the paper presents a nice hypothesis for how the canyons were formed. Petro was not involved in the study. 'What's presented in the paper is one hypothesis tying back to secondary cratering and these gouges that radiate far and wide away from them,' Petro said. 'I think that the interesting thing the paper does is this connection back to a single point, and then hypothesizing what that means for the formation and the geometry of the formation of the basin. They're using modern observations from a spacecraft that's been orbiting the moon now for over 15 years to reconstruct an event that happened 3.8 billion years always exciting because we're peeling back the layers of time which are preserved so well for us on the moon.' Future exploration of the moon The south pole of the moon is filled with geologic mysteries that scientists are eager to explore, Petro said. The Schrödinger impact basin, one of the younger, large impact craters on the moon, is within a few hundred kilometers of the moon's oldest and largest impact basin, Petro said. Schrödinger is located in the outer reaches of the South Pole–Aitken basin, which future crewed Artemis missions are planning to explore. The South Pole–Aitken basin is estimated to be about 4.3 billion years old, but only rock samples will be able to prove whether that's the case, Petro said. 'The first astronauts to walk at the south pole will potentially be walking on the oldest rocks that humans have ever explored,' he said. The new study shows that the lunar debris excavated by the impacts that created the Schrödinger basin and its canyons radiated out asymmetrically, distributing it away from the lunar south pole, rather than burying the region. This means that any rocks collected by Artemis astronauts will provide glimpses of the earliest lunar history, Kring said. Kring and his team plan to continue studying sites that could potentially be explored by future missions. Team Draper's lunar lander will aim to land in the Schrödinger Basin in 2026 under NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative, which is part of the Artemis program. The robotic mission will deliver seismometers to study tectonic activity within the lunar interior, among other scientific objectives. 'The far side of the moon is the realm of the explorer,' Petro said. 'Whether it's a robotic mission or an astronaut mission that goes to the moon, Schrödinger basin has never been seen or visited by a mission. We are deep in the exploration of these large craters because they are so unique. They're giant backhoes that have dug up the lunar surface and exposed material from underneath, so they become very compelling targets.' Kring sees value in collecting samples from the basin and canyons to help determine whether the estimated age of both is correct, as well as studying the ancient lunar material they helped bring to the surface. 'If an astronaut was able to collect samples from the rims of the canyons, they would collect samples from up to 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) beneath the surface,' he said. And the astronauts would be able to see incredible views. 'The splendor of the canyons is so dramatic that if exposed on Earth, they would be national or international parks,' Kring said.
