The moon’s surface is dotted with hundreds of small pits, each the size of a tall building, and it might not just be the size of the pits that would look familiar to an astronaut.
Now, scientists have measured the temperature inside one of those pits at a temperate 63 degrees Fahrenheit (17 degrees Celsius). The mild conditions are a sign that such pits, which can be up to 490 feet (150 meters) in diameter, could offer future astronauts and moon dwellers shelter from the extreme conditions on the moonthe surface.
By using the Lunar reconnaissance orbiterAs part of the Diviner experiment, scientists took the temperature inside a pit in Mare Tranquillitatis, the dark volcanic floodplain where Apollo 11 landed in 1969. The researchers found that not only did the pit was temperate, but that conditions also remained stable throughout the lunar day. , which lasts about two Earth weeks.
“Knowing that they create a stable thermal environment helps us paint a picture of these unique lunar features and the prospect of one day exploring them,” said Noah Petro, orbiter project scientist at Goddard Space Flight Center in Washington. NASA, in a statement. statement.
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From JapanSELENE Orbiter (Kaguya) discovered one of these pits in 2009, scientists have identified more than 200. Scientists aren’t sure how each pit was formed, but they believe there is at least lead in the pits. lava tubes: long winding caverns formed by tendrils of lava eating away at rock.
Some pits have visible rock overhangs that suggest caves below. Indeed, when these researchers compared their readings with computer simulations of the temperatures in the particular pit they studied, the results were consistent with the existence of a cave.
If these pits are entrances to lava tubes, that’s a promising sign for future lunar explorers. Some researchers foresee a future where humans visit and even live in the moon’s lava tubes.
There, underground, astronauts would be safe from the extreme temperature swings, radiation, and micrometeorites that strike everything on the lunar surface.
Researchers published the work in the journal Geophysical Research Letters on July 8.
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