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Fresh photos from NASA's lunar orbiter suggest that pit craters could provide havens for humans on the moon – just as they do in 50-year-old science fiction.
About 10 candidate pit craters have been identified in high-resolution imagery from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, according to Mark Robinson, the principal investigator for the orbiter's camera. He features images that appears to show sunlight slanting down at an angle into holes in the ground.
"They could be entrances to a geologic wonderland," Robinson says in a NASA Science News report. "We believe the giant holes are skylights that formed when the ceilings of underground lava tubes collapsed."
Over at Beyond the Black, space writer Robert Zimmerman offers up a provocative pair of pictures, showing sunlight hitting a pit crater at different times during the lunar day. These observations follow up on last year's first picture of a lunar skylight, based on data from Japan's Selene spacecraft.
Such pit craters are thought to be a consequence of ancient volcanic activity on the moon, with surface openings leading to the lava tubes beneath. The tubes could provide shelter from the moon's harsh surface conditions.
"The tunnels offer a perfect radiation shield and a very benign thermal environment," Robinson says. "Once you get down to two meters under the surface of the moon, the temperature remains fairly constant, probably around -30 to -40 degrees C." That's the equivalent of 20 to 40 degrees below zero Fahrenheit - pretty chilly, but not as inclement as typical temperatures at the lunar surface, which swing between 225 degrees above zero during the day and 250 below zero at night.
You could even imagine sealing off the openings and creating a tunnel city. That's basically what Robert Heinlein did in his tales of Luna City, published as short stories and novels in the late 1950s and 1960s. Perhaps the best-known of these works is "The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress," one of my favorites.
Robinson as well as moon maven Paul Spudis of the Lunar and Planetary Institute say more observations will need to be made to confirm what's actually within the pits. "Hold off on booking your next vacation at the Lunar Carlsbad Hilton," the NASA report quotes Spudis as saying. "Many tunnels may have filled up with their own solidified lava."
If it does turn out that the caves of Luna are open for business, that might lead NASA's mission planners to reconsider their next steps for human exploration. But when it comes to pit craters, the moon isn't the only game in town ... or the solar system.
Mars appears to have pits as well, including one that discovered by a group of seventh-graders only recently. As I mentioned a few days ago, the Martian caves around Arsia Mons are on the short list for potential human missions. The caves could be among the best places to look for signs of past or even present life on Mars. So when I say that life's the pits on other planets ... that's meant to be a good thing.
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Leave a Comment:
Why not use robots instead of humans to explore these caves?
Exactly. why risk human life in these explorations. Hell, The BP robot does well underwater, why not the moon?
Hate to be a downer... but there is nothing on the moon worth having.
It would be a net sink of resources. Its not like establishing a base helps us farm needed resources from the moon.
People can't live on it very long, because with no gravity, we'd weaken and die off. Cosmonauts in orbit about a year had to be carried out of the capsule.
If we had some kind of concerted effort to use it as a base to construct an inter-stellar ship (one that uses ion propulsion only, and does not need gravity defying bulky rockets...) I can see that, I guess.
"Exactly. why risk human life in these explorations. Hell, The BP robot does well underwater, why not the moon?"
And consider how long it took them to do that...without spaaed of light delays, and with the ability to easily lift them from the water for servicing/maintenance? What happens to a Lunar robot when something breaks?
As for teh risk, it need not be as great as you imagine...and some things are worth certain degrees of risk.
"Hate to be a downer... but there is nothing on the moon worth having.
It would be a net sink of resources. Its not like establishing a base helps us farm needed resources from the moon."
And you know this, because...? How much exploration have you carried out there? Six Apollo landings do not full understanding make.
"If we had some kind of concerted effort to use it as a base to construct an inter-stellar ship (one that uses ion propulsion only, and does not need gravity defying bulky rockets...) I can see that, I guess."
Actually, that's one of the last reasons to go. Assembly of deep-soace ships is what Low Earth Orbit is for. (What's that? You want to build it from Lunar materials? Aside from creating a mining, smelting and manufacturing infrastructure there for that one limited purpose, that means there is something useful on the Moon, doesn't it? You can't have it both ways.)
(BTW, even ion rockets are inadequate for interstellar travel...and they're still Newton's-Third-Law rockets. Stop worrying about 'bulk.' Even a wide-bodied jet is 'bulky.' No starship, using any known physics, is going to be small.)
Bruce you need to read up a lot because you dont know squat about the moon, first off they have found water in the moon dust, and they have found all the essential building blocks for water, oxygen and other required resources. As to low gravity where have you been nasa has equipment that astronauts can exercise on that provides resistance thru tension. Astronauts would only have to use that to put the stress on their bones and muscles.
Please read up more, we are finding out more and more about the moon and how much a moon base would be in the best interest of our species as a launch point for exploration of our solar system.
This is where the obelisk will be found.
Found it funny that HAL9000 commented directly after this one, heheh
Um, 100 meters does not equal 100 yards.
That's close enough for the only country in the world that hasn't yet gotten with the metric system. :)
Why are you even talking about going to the moon?
Obama has already axed any hope of going back.
Unless we can hitch a ride with some third world Nation.
No, he merely (and unfortunately, but did you actually hear his statement on the subject> I did.) expressed the same 'been there, done that' attitude of many other space enthusiasts, with respect to the Moon. That's not the same as ruling it out. It's definitely not ruling out going elsewhere.
"Unless we can hitch a ride with some third world Nation."
Which one would that be? Is China still a 'third-world' nation? I think not. But they also can't (yet) average one flight to LEO per year, so far. Where are they taking anybody?
Is India still a 'third-world' nation? I think not. But they don't expect their first flight to LEO until 2017. Where are they taking anybody?
There's a lot the Russians would still like to do, but it doesn't match what they can afford...which is not that different from the US situation. (Though they don't consider continuing to carry out LEO operations as a bad, 'boring' thing.)
Mr. Robinson and Mr Zimmerman have the thinking that we need right Now! Thats thinking out the box .Using the start we all ready have because of the craters help we already have some shelter. Most other ideas start outside. The one idea I seen on History channel,was a one man RV. type rover which was able for long range exploration. If we could do that, why not send a fleet and back up fleet of say 50 to 100,at different times. that way one gets in trouble back up is on the way,and go from there, abort-cont. Don't forget there is an Asteroid on it's way to Earth in 2029,if it follows it's path and will come very close. So think on that for a while!
what are you going to eat up there? and drink? how you going to grow food? smarten up.!!
You eat what you plant in lunar soil, and what you water by melting lunar ice -- of which there seems to be huge amounts, at least in certain locations -- which also answers to what you drink. You'd have food, water, shelter, mineral resources, and abundant solar power, not to mention a climate-controlled environment, all of which is more than the original colonists of the New World had.
You didn't ask, but I'll tell you anyway: the Moon is at least as valuable an outpost for pure science as Antarctica. The lunar topsoil would be an abundant source of Helium-3 from the solar wind, which could be the key to successful controlled fusion power on earth. And water melted from lunar ice, split by solar-powered electrolysis into hydrogen and oxygen, would be a source for both breathable air, and rocket fuel.
This is all available technology, and not just science fiction -- all it takes is the will power. Or as someone else once put it, you'll have it on line ten years after you stop laughing at the idea.
Smarten up yourself and do a little research before you criticize, friend.
My only complaint is that there is no abundant water, all I've heard is that they have found traces of ice and frost. And if you're going to then break it down into hydrogen and oxygen then you have even less water. All said it might be enough to sustain a small population (say up to a hundred people) but any large scale colonization would require water to be imported.
captain - There have been larger concentrations of water found within craters on the dark side of the moon. For a small outpost, one of those deposits would last quite a while. Also, we could just send a force of drones to mine out the water particles long before humans set up shop, providing a surplus of water before we get there. Though I do believe you are correct in that a large scale population would be a bit unrealistic (with currently known facts/technology anyway).
Living on the moon? whoz bright idea was this..nasa'?
stupid idea and it won't work. why r they wasting so much money on this stupidity when therez ppl starving to "death" here on Earth.?
whadda buncha..........
"Living on the moon? whoz bright idea was this..nasa'?"
If you think the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (which only goes back to 1958) 'invented' the idea of permanent human habitation of the Moon, you really haven't kept up with history...
If you think that not doing it will feed one more mouth...see above.
wise up time waits for no man, if it wastnt for space exploration pretty much most of the technology and the everyday things you enjoy in your life would not exist, You need to read up and make comments from en educated perspective and not an opinionated one.
Well lets see, with humans population growth speeding up every year, how EXACTLY do you propose we feed everyone in the future using Earth's resources alone? Wake up buddy, if we want to avoid wholesale war with each other, exploration and colonization of moons/planets is going to be the only civilized option.
Hate to break it to you about a 1/3 of the world population is and has been starving since I was a kid, about 50 years. According to the world health org. most of the starving wasn't caused by enviornmental factors like drought but by man himself. I.E. a governments deliberately starving their people by denying them either the resources to feed themselves or keeping them in areas where they will starve. Starving people isn't a reason not to do something. It's like saying you shouldn't buy the more expensive car with your money than the cheaper car because the difference could be used to feed the starving people. We've always had the poor and for the foreseeable future we always will.
I want my Moon Base Alpha!
people will be starving somewhere here on eath whether we live on the moon or not, we need to look at 'increasing the biosphere' as elon musk puts it. And I think you mean 'monolith' not 'obelisk'
Why would anyone live on the moon, other than those at scientific installations? No one lives in Anarctica, except for those at scientific installations. Humans have fought to live everywhere else on Earth, yet no one is that passionate about Anarctica. Anarctica is the closest thing we have to another planet right here on Earth, and yet conditions in Anarctica are much friendlier to human life than those on the moon. The gravity is the same as the rest of Earth, and the air is very cold but at least it is breathable. None of that is true on the moon, or, for that matter, anywhere else in the solar system. We live on the best piece of real estate in the solar system, at least from a human perspective. Human colonization of other planets and moons will only happen if very advanced survival technology becomes practical and cheap or if we find a moon or planet orbiting another star that naturally supports human life and we develop a practical way to bridge the enormous distances to get there.
Earthings will inhabit The Moon because it is there waiting for us. Same is true of Marz. The new NASA strategy, the 'lunar bypass', is of the moment and fleeting in time. Other generations to come will take a different approach. The Moon is a treasure trove of minerals and there are no biota to displace or disturb and no ecosystem to pollute. Uranium and thorium signatures have already been detected and reactors can be constructed and supplied to supplement solar power, which is stupendous, however the the Lunar night is 14days long. Human habitats will be scientific outposts until a reasonable return on investment prompts NGO exploration and development. I'm talkin' a century and more into the future. Initially everything will have to be supplied from Earth, however it is entirely possible for a Lunar society to become reasonably self-sufficient and productive enough to engage in trade and commerce. And grow its own food. Carbon and nitrogen are absent from the Lunar regolith, yet they are abundant on Marz. It is far more cost effective to import and export to and from Marz than from the Earth. The gravity differential makes the difference. Escape velocity from either The Moon or Marz is quite low. Tribulations, warfare, and poverty on Earth currently anchor Us to this planet. Overcoming the negatives and forging a way into the future is what pioneering is all about. The entire solar system belongs to Us but wil be Ours only if we claim it. In scifi this has long been known as the High Frontier and the scope of the environment is that of a vast hostile region devoid of other life. It is Ours to populate and We will do so because it is a tremendous challenge, because it is there and because the riches of The Earth today are miniscule compared to what awaits Us out there in the future.
Interesting ideas H.C., but consider that water, oxygen, air pressure, temperature can be moderated... Gravity, however is completely missing.
Other than constructing a huge centrifugal spinning ring, I don't see how we'd produce something akin to artificial gravity.
Without gravity, we deform and die.
Hey bruce in dc - we have people stationed for fairly long periods on the International Space Station and they overcome gravity deforming their bodies through strenuous exercise like with the Stephen Colbert exercise machine. Going to the moon could be dealt with the same way and with a mere 3 day transit time between earth and the moon we could keep astronauts rotating so that they don't spend too long in low gravity.
Remember that the moon has about 1/6 the gravity of the Earth so gravity would be much less problematic than it is on the ISS. Mars has a higher gravity than the moon so gravity there would be even less of a problem, but the long transit time to Mars, something like 6 months each way, makes gravity somewhat more problematic since those missions would have astronauts in zero gravity space for about a year with about 6 months on Mars with it's lesser gravity than Earth.
We really should go back to the moon and learn how to live there and test the equipment needed to live on another planet/moon before venturing off to Mars. We need to be sure we have reliable equipment that can turn moon or Mars stuff into usable things like oxygen or hydrogen before going on to Mars.
Interesting article Alan! If these pits are collapsed lava tubes then how stable are the bottoms? Could the bottoms end up collapsing if too thin and we try to build something inside? Still if the bottoms are stable enough to build accomodations there they do sound like our best bet for getting people up to the moon to live and work.
Unfortunately President Obama doubled down on Clueless George Bush's idiotic space plan and is going to bypass going back to the moon in favor of multibillion dollar publicity stunts sending manned missions to an asteroid and on to Mars before ever making sure that the equipment needed gets thoroughly tested on the moon.
A real shame that neither president was smart enough to partner up with our international space partners to go to the moon and on to Mars the way we built the International Space Station. Both are forcing our country into going it alone so we can thumb our noses at the rest of the world, an ignorant space race for mere bragging rights.
Well said Eric. In my humble opinion, space exploration needs to be kept apart from every-day politics. This is the only way we'll be able to make any progress, with NASA setting the goals for long-term projects without having to worry about a 'change in strategy' every 4 years...
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Mancruel needs matter to make O'Neil Colonies. You aren't going to Mars without enough mass to protect you from Radiation. Think of enormous tin cans covered in Ice.
I would SO LOVE to take a vacation on the moon. So not only could we use minerals there, I'm absolutely certain it would be for entertainment as well. The gravity is so low that in a big air-filled dome you could strap on some wings and fly around like a bird! :-) How FUN! Also, I'm sure people would find some kind of religious belief around minerals on the moon so you could sell minerals here for a top notch price... imagine... moon diamonds!
Yes, Ed, said it. How are we going to protect our astronauts from all the radiation in space. Going to the moon and back is one thing. Going to the asteroids will tell us a great deal about the radiation problems. going to mars, we really need to have the radiation issue nailed down.
There certanly could be diamonds on The Moon, as well as trektites, fused glass 'moonpearls' These, however, are mere trinkets for the tourist trade. The real bucks will be found in an full array of minerals and elements that abound in the regolith. And no-one one knows what really lies beneath. Aluminum, silicon, magnesium, titanium (all in oxide from, which means there is plenty of O2 to release) have all been discovered, as well a the so called 'rare-earth' elements of the lanthanum series...not so rare on The Moon and then there is an additional abundance of He3. A trove of mineral riches await the future Earthlings who will develop the potential. ALSO, The Moon is an excellent place to store what is currently termed 'nuclear waste' from Earthbound uranium reactors. It is only 'waste' because we don't know what to do with it or how it could be useful, which is because no-one, to my knowledge, has researched the prospect. Billions have been spent on methods of containment and isolation as the only way to solve the 'waste' equation. However, H/O2 rocketry is safe enough to trust sending hot payloads to farside of The Moon for storage. The extremely poisonous, thus dangerous by-products of uranium rreactors is what currently shackles this technology A thousand times more electricity could be generated if a way could be found to remove the 'waste' from the ecosystem safely. The Moon has an answer.
Fascinating! :)
Perhaps more detailed images will reveal a Muslim enclave in one of these lunar pits, at which point NASA will have no option but to embark on a bold new series of lunar missions, since at the dawn of the early-21st century first and foremost NASA must do everything possible to make Muslims feel good about themselves, no matter where they might happen to be, really . . .
Really!
And finding Muslims on Mars would be a bonus, for sure . . .
For sure! ;)