Good news for human explorers! Newly found cave could house crews on Moon

Radar data gathered by Nasa's lunar reconnaissance orbiter (LRO) revealed that the deepest known pit on the moon leads to a cave 45 metres wide and up to 80 metres long

The analysis of the radar data obtained by Nasa’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has confirmed the presence of an underground cave on the moon accessible from the surface. The location is said to be the perfect spot to build a future lunar base on the moon.

Scientists have for long believed that a network of tunnels exists under the surface of the moon, but it’s for the first time that the evidence has been found for one. They believe the widespread presence of pits, also called skylights, which are openings in the cave roofs on the moon’s surface, were formed as a result of the collapse of ancient lava tubes.

While re-analyzing the LRO radar data of the deepest known pits, the Mare Tranquillitatis pit, Trento and his team found that it led to a huge cave buried at least 130 metres underground. 

The cave is said to be about 45 metres wide and at least 80 metres long, and present in the Mare Tranquillitatis (Sea of Tranquility), the ancient lava plain where the Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin first set foot on the moon.

Italy-based University of Trento’s Lorenzo Bruzzone was quoted by the Guardian saying the cave was “probably an empty lava tube”, adding that such features could serve as human habitats for future explorers as they were “a natural shelter against the harsh lunar environment”.

Leonardo Carrer of the University of Trento who analysed the data observed in 2010 said that the ceiling that protects cave rocks from the intense radiation experienced at the surface could also provide valuable shielding to future human explorers on the moon. “Unlike the lunar surface where the temperature varies dramatically between day and night, [the caves] have a stable internal temperature. Moreover, they are also a natural shielding against radiation and impacts,” Scientific American quoted him as saying.

Scientists have often toyed with the idea of using such lunar caves as potential habitat for future crews to the moon, shielding them from meteorite impacts and radiation exposure. The Moon's surface presents a plethora of threads for human existence, which also include severe temperature variations between day and night, cosmic ray exposure, and solar radiation.

Researchers also believe that studying the rocks inside such caves will help them understand the moon’s formation and volcanic history. The caves could provide human crews with water ice which is an important resource for long-term human settlement on the moon.

As humanity prepares multiple settlement projects on the moon, the feasibility of such structures to house lunar bases will be a focal point of scientific research. The subsurface caves will greatly enhance the safety and survivability of human crews on the moon, the experts say.