What a Massive New 728-Foot-Wide Crater Means for Future Moon Bases

Commenters reacted to the report of a newly observed 728-foot (about 222 m) lunar crater with a mix of amazement, practical conversions, and source links. Several users (Kirr, mkl) complained about imperial units and supplied metric equivalents, while JKCalhoun, peri-cl, bookofJoe and metalman pointed to archived articles, papers and NASA pages for more images and data. Hattmall and lubujackson expressed casual surprise about micrometeoroids and joked about relatable units, and zx8080 warned that perceived danger will raise the price of building any U.S. lunar base.

Opinion split over how the crater should affect planning. Commenters like npunt and bigtech argued that lunar habitats must be underground or in very deep pits to survive micrometeoroid strikes and radiation, with npunt adding that regolith contains a lot of oxygen and that major impacts could wipe out surface infrastructure. Kurthr pushed back, saying the crater is visible but that the chance of a similar impact at any given site in the next century is minuscule. __MatrixMan__ suggested a cultural fix: prize-driven competition between amateurs and institutions to predict and prevent impacts, while others focused on practical implications for cost and design.