The Moon is the second brightest object in the sky - after the Sun - and Earth's only natural satellite. 

The Moon moderates the Earth's planetary wobble which helps stabilize our climate. Its gravitational pull causes tides across the planet's water bodies.

It is also the only celestial body which is easily visible from Earth and one on which humans have set foot. That is how it is known that the Moon's surface has a rocky texture, and a very thin and tenuous atmosphere called an exosphere. Since there is no source of liquid water, it is impossible to support life on it.

Recently, scientists have discovered a strange crack on the Moon's surface which has left them very confused. Reportedly, the crack is continuously expanding. A large scale research was conducted by the Smithsonian Institute to study the defect on the lunar surface using sensors installed during Apollo 17. 

NASA

According to the data received by the sensors, a mysterious crack seems to have appeared due to a powerful shock. Its magnitude is said to be closer to 5.5 on the Richter scale which is enough to cause moderate damage to infrastructures - such as buildings - on Earth. 

The information received by researchers points to the fact that the future colonizers of the Moon will have to seriously attend to the issues of seismic activity on its surface. It is also possible that in this case it will be necessary to build a settlement directly inside the satellite.

NASA

Years ago, the scientist community had agreed that there should not be any new faults on the Moon's surface. 2020 just doesn't seem to stop its plethora of disasters. 

Last year, NASA found that the Moon’s surface is an ever-changing landscape of cracks, wrinkled ridges and basins. An expansive survey of more than 12,000 lunar images proved the surface of the Moon is constantly cracking and shifting under stress. The NASA survey had tracked new landscapes features in the northern parts of the Moon, in a basin known as the Mare Frigoris. The features, which included trenches and scarps, were the result of the Moon’s crust shifting and grinding against itself.