Now, scientists have measured the temperature inside one of these pits at a balmy 63 degrees Fahrenheit (17 degrees Celsius). The mild conditions are a sign that such pits, which can be up to 150 meters wide, could offer future astronauts and lunar inhabitants shelter from extreme conditions the moonits surface. Using it Lunar Reconnaissance OrbiterIn the Diviner experiment, scientists took temperature measurements inside a pit located in Mare Tranquillitatis, the dark volcanic floodplain where Apollo 11 landed in 1969. The researchers found that not only was the pit temperate, but conditions remained stable over during 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 exploring them one day,” said Noah Petro, orbiter project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. statement. From Japanof the SELENE (Kaguya) orbiter. first discovered one of these pits in 2009, scientists have identified more than 200 of them. Scientists aren’t sure how each pit formed, but they believe at least one part leads to lava tubes: long, snaking caves formed by spirals of flowing lava eating away at rock. Some pits have visible rock outcroppings that suggest caves below. Indeed, when these researchers compared their measurements with computer simulations of temperatures in the particular pit they studied, the results were compatible with the existence of a cave. If these pits are entrances to lava tubes, this is a promising sign for would-be lunar explorers. Some researchers are planning for a future where people visit and even live in the lava tubes of the moon. There, underground, the astronauts would be sheltered from the extreme temperature changes, radiation and micrometeorites that hit everything on the lunar surface. Investigators published the paper in the journal Geophysical Research Letters on July 8. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and up Facebook.
