Scientists have discovered the first accessible cave conduit on the moon, which could be a suitable place for lunar habitation.
The cave conduit is located in the region called Mare Tranquillitatis (Sea of Tranquillity), where Apollo 11 landed on July 20, 1969.
Researchers interpreted the cave conduit as a potential lava tube. A lava tube is a tunnel in the lunar subsurface created by lava flowing. When this lava is able to drain out through a pit, it forms a cave-like tube.
The cave opening, or Mare Tranquillitatis pit (MTP), was first discovered by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) in 2010. However, during that time, researchers did not know that the pit was a cave conduit.
After re-analyzing radar data from the Miniature Radio-Frequency instrument onboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, researchers suggest that the MTP leads to an accessible cave conduit beneath the Moon’s surface.
The research team found that the cave extended more than 200 feet from the base of a pit. However, the full extent of the cave is unknown, but it could stretch for miles beneath the mare.
So the Mare Tranquillitatis pit is an ideal place to make a lunar base, as it protects astronauts from the harsh lunar temperatures, meteorite impact, and solar radiation.
Lunar surface temperature goes up to 260 F (about 127 C) during the day and goes down to minus 280 F (about minus 173 C) at night. However, the temperature of the permanently shadowed region of the pit fluctuates only slightly throughout the day, remaining at around 63 F or 17 C.
So all of the above factors make moon caves a promising place to support long-term human exploration of the moon.
A scientific paper has been published on the above findings on July 15, 2024, in the journal Nature Astronomy.
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