Posted on 04/12/2018 4:08:15 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Future Moon and Mars colonists will already be facing a life underground, to hide from the surface radiation, micrometeorite bombardment, extreme temperatures and to create a usable atmosphere. These natural tunnels will save them the hard work of needing to dig the tunnel. The natural roofs on these caverns are thought to be 10 meters or more thick, with one site estimated to have a roof that’s 45-90 meters thick. This would be more than enough to protect against solar radiation and galactic cosmic radiation.
While the surface of the Moon varies in temperature from -180 C to +100 C, the interior of a lava tube would remain a constant chilly -20 C. This would be easy enough to keep warmed up, once it was sealed off and pressurized with a breathable atmosphere.
As we’ve mentioned time and time again, the lunar dust on the Moon is dangerous stuff, irritating eyes, nasal passages and lungs. Lunar colonists would want to minimize their exposure to it at all costs. By sealing off the interior of the lava tube, they could prevent further dust from getting in. In fact, the dust is also electrically charged, and could be a hazard to electronics.
In terms of resources, the Moon has plenty. There’s aluminum everywhere in the regolith, as well as iron and titanium. But the most valuable one for humans, water, could be down there too. In the eternally shadowed craters, there could be large deposits of water collected down below that colonists could harvest.
...Future explorers could be protected inside the lava tubes at the same time that they’re in the ideal place to search for life on Mars. That’s convenient.
(Excerpt) Read more at universetoday.com ...
I didn’t get this far in life to morph into a Morlock.
The problem with lava tubes is lava!
Those spherical things, ground up, probably make a great fertilizer.
I can’t quite remember. Did Kirk have sex with that thing?
James Tiberius Kirk? Really?
Does Uranus have lava tubes?
Prometheus, for example:
Is this art imitating science or science imitating art?
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I can’t quite remember. Did Kirk have sex with that thing?No. Spock did.
Cool!
Lava tube or underground river?
O2 and water are precious.
Food comes next...
Always something..
Lava River Cave is a lava tube cave in northern Arizona’s Coconino National Forest. At approximately 0.75-mile (1.21 km) long, it is the longest cave of this kind known in Arizona.
Geologists believe the cave was formed sometime between 650,000 and 700,000 years ago when molten lava erupted from a volcanic vent in nearby Hart Prairie. The top, sides and bottom of the flow cooled and solidified, while lava in the middle flowed out, leaving a hollow space to form the cave.
Location. Location. Location.
Pluto’s Cave in Weed, CA is pretty cool, too. Cool, dark and smelly.
AZ is amazing
Don’t know why ‘free water’ gets so much attention. Plenty of Oxygen and Hydrogen in Lunar rocks. Plenty of energy there to get it out.
Plus it’s never used up, unless exported.
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