Artemis II astronauts witnessed meteorites striking the moon's surface.

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During their flyby of the far side of the moon, the Artemis II astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft saw as many as six flashes emerging from the lunar surface. Surprisingly, they were witnessing small meteorites impacting the ground and producing brief flashes of light.

NASA's control room recorded the team's surprise during the mission livestream, although the cameras did not pick up the flashes. According to the astronauts, the flashes were white or blue-white and lasted less than a second. The cameras they were using to document the moon weren't fast enough to record them.

The crew was flying between 6,000 and 7,000 kilometers away. Under normal conditions, these impacts would have gone unnoticed. However, at the time they were studying the solar eclipse, which left the far side of the moon completely dark. That extreme contrast allowed them to distinguish the brief flashes that emerged from the surface.

Since the idea of building permanent lunar bases first arose, different teams have assessed the risks to future inhabitants. Today, the two major challenges are “moonquakes” and meteorite impacts. For the former, there are plans to install seismographs to help understand the phenomenon. For the meteorites, astronomers already know the approximate frequency, and observations such as the six recent flashes help to refine existing models.

In space exploration, even small objects can pose a risk. For example, a micrometeorite traveling at tens of kilometers per second can puncture thin materials or damage essential equipment. Fragments whose surface area exceed centimeters act as high-energy projectiles, similar to bullets, and could compromise a habitat. Objects larger than 1 meter across generate craters; while they're extremely rare, they pose a real risk.

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