Potential Danger: Moon Hit By More Space Rocks Than Thought

......" "We've now seen 11 and possibly 12 lunar impacts since we started monitoring the Moon one year ago," said Bill Cooke, head of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office. "That's about four times more hits than our computer models predicted."

If further study proves the pace to be accurate, it could figure into plans for putting people on the Moon, according to a NASA statement issued today.

A collision with a spacesuit or a habitation module, even from a small object, could be fatal.

Most meteoroids that enter Earth's atmosphere burn up harmlessly. The bulk of shooting stars are caused by stuff no bigger than sand grains and a few pea-sized objects. But even something as big as a basketball will usually burn up, in a spectacular fireball, before hitting Earth's surface.

The Moon, with no atmosphere, sees it all rain down."......