---
title: UMD Geologist Helped Develop Moonquake Detector for Astronauts’ Surface Mission
date: 2024-04-11T05:30:00-04:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/umd-geologist-helped-develop-moonquake-detector-for-astronauts-planned-26-mission"
section: Articles
---
# UMD Geologist Helped Develop Moonquake Detector for Astronauts’ Surface Mission

*April 11, 2024* — by [Georgia Jiang](/author/georgia-jiang)


> Monitoring System Will Add to Knowledge of How Moon Formed, Evolved

*Artemis astronaut with instrument 1920x1080 1 — An astronaut works on the moon's surface in an artist's concept. Below, team members prepare for thermal-vacuum testing for a prototype of the LEMS unit, a seismometer to detect moonquakes that astronauts will put in place near the lunar south pole during a planned 2026 mission.*

An instrument to detect “moonquakes” developed in part by a University of Maryland geologist is among the scientific equipment recently selected by NASA for its planned return of astronauts to the moon.

Once installed near the lunar south pole during the Artemis III mission—the first human visit to the moon’s surface in more than 50 years—the Lunar Environment Monitoring Station (LEMS) will collect valuable seismic data about the lunar environment and its interior and help prepare NASA to establish a long term presence on other planetary bodies.

“This means being patient and listening for moonquakes, which can be caused by things like impacts hitting the moon or internal quaking from deep inside the lunar interior,” said Associate Professor Nick Schmerr, deputy principal investigator of the LEMS project. “With enough seismic events, we’ll be able to use our tools to study the moon’s deeper structure.”

Led by University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) planetary scientist [Mehdi Benna](https://science.gsfc.nasa.gov/sci/bio/mehdi.benna-1), the LEMS project is the result of a yearslong collaboration between UMBC, UMD, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, the University of Arizona, Morehead State University and Washington University in St. Louis.


*instrument to detect “moonquakes”*




**Topics:** [Research](https://today.umd.edu/tags/research)


**Tags:** [Geological, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences](https://today.umd.edu/topic/geology), [Research](https://today.umd.edu/topic/research)


**Units:** [College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences](https://today.umd.edu/topic/college-computer-mathematical-and-natural-sciences)