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Moon Cave Offers Hope as Exploration Base
Moon Cave Offers Hope as Exploration Base
Sputnik International
Scientists for the first time have discovered a cave on Earth’s moon. The underground cave, which is accessible from the surface, could be the perfect spot to build a future lunar base.
2024-07-17T00:05+0000
2024-07-17T00:05+0000
2024-07-17T05:58+0000
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Scientists for the first time have discovered a cave on Earth’s moon. The underground cave, which is accessible from the surface, could be the perfect spot to build a future lunar base. The cave lies about 492 feet below the moon’s surface, and could offer shelter from the harsh surface environment, the study published in Nature on Monday said.The 147-foot wide and 262-foot long cave is located about 250 miles from where the Apollo 11, carrying astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, landed 55 years ago. The researchers note that is just one in probably hundreds of caves hidden in an “underground, undiscovered world”.Radar data collected by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter revealed the cave to be what is most likely an “empty lava tube”. Lunar orbiters first saw these “subsurface openings” more than a decade ago, and it is believed that many of them connect to underground caves, such as lava tubes, that form through volcanic processes.This particular cave was found by Lorenzo Bruzzone and Leonardo Carrer at the University of Trento in Italy. The researchers used radar to penetrate the opening of a pit on a rocky plain called the Mare Tranquillitatis which is visible to a stargazer’s naked eye.Helen Sharman, the first British astronaut to travel to space, told BBC that the cave could be a good spot for those inhabiting the moon to seek shelter from radiation, extreme temperatures and space weather. She also suggested that humans may begin living in lunar pits in two to three decades.Katherine Joy, a professor in Earth sciences at the University of Manchester in the UK also noted that lunar cave systems have “been proposed as great places to site future crewed bases”, because "the thick cave ceiling of rock is ideal to protect people and infrastructure from the wildly varying day-night lunar surface temperature variations and to block high energy radiation which bathes the lunar surface"."However, we currently know very little about the underground structures below these pit entrances."Researchers hope to use ground-penetrating radar, cameras and even robots to map the cave, which could help with the exploration of caves on Mars in the future. But for the time being, the Moon’s cave could tell us about its history as well as the history of our solar system. The rocks inside may have been preserved, and could offer an exciting research opportunity for scientists.
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moon exploration, space, space exploration, moon cave, nasa, space discovery, moon cave, no life, no aliens
Moon Cave Offers Hope as Exploration Base
00:05 GMT 17.07.2024 (Updated: 05:58 GMT 17.07.2024) The cave is 45 meters wide and nearly 80 meters long; an area which could be covered by about 14 tennis courts, one report revealed.
Scientists for the first time have discovered a cave on Earth’s moon. The underground cave, which is accessible from the surface, could be the perfect spot to build a future lunar base. The cave lies about 492 feet below the moon’s surface, and could offer shelter from the harsh surface environment, the study published in
Nature on Monday said.
The 147-foot wide and 262-foot long cave is located about 250 miles from where the Apollo 11, carrying astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, landed
55 years ago. The researchers note that is just one in probably hundreds of caves hidden in an “underground, undiscovered world”.
Radar data collected by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter revealed the cave to be what is most likely an “empty lava tube”.
Lunar orbiters first saw these “subsurface openings” more than a decade ago, and it is believed that many of them connect to underground caves, such as lava tubes, that form through volcanic processes.
This particular cave was found by Lorenzo Bruzzone and Leonardo Carrer at the University of Trento in Italy. The researchers used radar to penetrate the opening of a pit on a rocky plain called the Mare Tranquillitatis which is visible to a stargazer’s naked eye.
“It’s really exciting. When you make these discoveries and you look at these images, you realize you’re the first person in the history of humanity to see it,” Carrer said. “Life on Earth began in caves, so it makes sense that humans could live inside them on the Moon.”
Helen Sharman, the first British astronaut to travel to space, told
BBC that the cave could be a good spot for those inhabiting the moon to seek shelter from radiation, extreme temperatures and space weather. She also suggested that humans may begin living in lunar pits in two to three decades.
Katherine Joy, a professor in Earth sciences at the University of Manchester in the UK also noted that lunar cave systems have “been proposed as great places to site future crewed bases”, because "the thick cave ceiling of rock is ideal to protect people and infrastructure from the wildly varying day-night lunar surface temperature variations and to block high energy radiation which bathes the lunar surface". "However, we currently know very little about the underground structures below these pit entrances."
Researchers hope to use ground-penetrating radar, cameras and even robots to map the cave, which could help with the exploration of caves on Mars in the future. But for the time being, the Moon’s cave could tell us about its history as well as the history of our solar system. The rocks inside may have been preserved, and could offer an exciting research opportunity for scientists.
