The Influence of Human Artifacts on the Moon: A Historical Review
Since 1959, the Moon has documented over fifty human artifact impacts, mostly linked to planned scientific missions. These impacts frequently involved the intentional landing of eight rocket stages for research purposes. The majority of observed impacts are thus the result of targeted scientific procedures.
Since the start of lunar missions, the Moon has become a witness to numerous human interventions. Since the Luna 2 mission in 1959, over fifty human artifact impacts have been recorded on the lunar surface. These impacts were mostly part of planned scientific endeavors, where the objects often served specific scientific purposes, such as the analysis of water or the calibration of seismometers. Eight rocket stages have landed on the Moon from these artifacts, most of which were intentional jettisons. Not all events were planned: only two crashes were unforeseen – one is the current incident, and the other occurred during the Chang'e-T1 mission in 2022. Thus, the vast majority of the observed impacts are the result of targeted scientific research and technical procedures.