2024-07-16 10:59:29
Are there cave systems on the moon? Researchers have been speculating about this for a long time. But now, for the first time, they have been proven.
The moon is the celestial body that is currently the focus of space nations. In recent years, a race to the moon has developed, similar to that during the Cold War. But now even more nations are getting involved – some with great success.
The biggest mission of the coming years, however, is the next moon landing as part of NASA’s “Artemis” mission. And the plans for the Earth’s satellite are even more ambitious. In the future, there will even be permanent base stations on the moon.
What could help: caves. What was long just speculation has now been proven for the first time by a research team from the University of Trento in Italy. They published their findings in the journal “Nature Astronomy”.
The only evidence for the possible existence of caves so far has been the so-called skylights – these are round and deep holes in the lunar surface, which sometimes appear in clusters and in chains. It has long been suspected that cave systems consisting of old lava passages exist under these skylights. However, it has not yet been possible to prove this using cameras attached to space probes, as these cannot see well enough into the skylights.
With the help of radar systems, such passages can be made at least partially visible under the right conditions, as the researchers explain in their study. And the scientists examined such images that were taken in the lunar sea “Mare Tranquillitatis”. Radar data from the “Mare Tranquillitatis Pit”, a large hole with a diameter of around 100 meters, showed anomalies.
There was an “increase in radar echoes beyond the west side of the pit,” as the study states. These cannot be explained by surface structures and must therefore indicate an underground structure. “The most likely explanation for our observations is an empty lava vein,” says research leader Leonardo Carrer.
According to the radar data, the cave could have a diameter of around 45 meters and extend 30 to 80 meters into the ground. It could probably even be accessible from the bottom of the skylight being studied – which could make such caves potential candidates for future bases on the moon.