Mars is pockmarked with absolutely massive lava tubes, with ceilings as high as the Empire State Building, new research shows. And the moon hosts even more gargantuan tubes, with heights doubling Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, and “skylights” as large as football fields.
These gifted, underground caves, which are protected from the rays of solar radiation, could be used as sites for future human bases, scientists claim.
A lava tube is a tunnel beneath a surface of the world, formed by an intense stream of molten rock during a volcanic eruption. Op Earth, they are most easily detected when they collapse, forming long furrows in the dirt. Partial accumulations sometimes form chains of “roof windows” that reveal hidden lava tubes that are mostly intact. Researchers have speculated that lava tubes on Mars and the moon may have existed since the 1960s, but in recent years Martian and lunar orbiters have planted home images showing how often these formations are likely, both on ‘ the Red Planet as on our moon. Now, researchers argue in a new paper published July 20 in the journal Earth science reviews, it’s time to take them seriously.
Here’s the reason: These lava tubes are truly enormous, and can provide safer habitats than the moon’s surfaces than the Martingale.
Related: 6 reasons astrobiologists hope for life on Mars
“The largest lava tubes on Earth are maximum [about] 40 meters [130 feet] of latitude and longitude, “said study co-author Riccardo Pozzobon, a geoscientist at the University of Padua, Italy.” Such as a very large tunnel for highways. “
That’s really big enough space for some people to fit inside. But lava tubes collapsed on Mars are about 80 times larger than Earth, with diameters of 130 to 1,300 feet (40 to 400 m). Lunar lava tubes appear to be even larger, the researchers found, with collapse sides 300 to 700 times the size of Earth. Lunar lava flows are likely to range from 1,600 to 3,000 feet (500 to 900 m).
A lava tube on the moon, Pozzobon told Live Science, could easily contain a small town within its walls.
The bare scale of these alien lava tubes is probably a result of low Martian and lunar gravity, as well as differences in how volcanoes work on those bodies compared to Earth.
Related: The 10 most dangerous countries for volcanoes (Photos)
To assess the size of moon and Martian lava tubes, the researchers collected 3D laser scans of their opposites – both collapsed and intact – on Earth. They then collected all available satellite images of collapsed lava tubes on Mars and the moon and modeled the size of the intact tubes based on the relationships between collapsed and intact tunnels on Earth.
Lava tubes make attractive human habitats for a variety of reasons, including protection against meteors that do not burn so easily in the thin Martian and lunar environment, the researchers wrote. They probably contain useful chemicals, such as water ice and volatile chemicals that can be used to make fuel. A thick layer of rock overhead can also, as well Live Science reported earlier, offer protection from the sun radiation. And skylights would still provide easy access to the surface.
Science fiction authors like Kim Stanley Robinson have at times suggested printing craters like lava tubes and filling them with air. But Pozzobon said that scenario is unlikely, not least because in the lava tubes of the moon openings can be as wide as a football field.
Related: Here’s what NASA’s Opportunity Rover saw before ‘lights out’
“Because of their enormous size and the possibility of leaks due to rock breaking, I would see that they are not likely to be put under pressure,” Pozzobon told Live Science. “What is more likely is to establish settlements within this void, whether for hosting people or for storing equipment.”
However, even stashing a base in a lava tube presents challenges.
“Although a lava tube could provide shelter for thermal excursion, radiation and micro-impact, it is not easily accessible and the basaltic rocks of the interior can be razor-like sharp and the terrain very uneven,” he said. “That the technical challenges of placing inflatable habitats in such impressive caves are not trivial and require very detailed studies.”
Right now, the immediate challenge is to gather more information about the intact lava tubes on the moon and Earth. At present, researchers can only identify themselves from satellite images of skylights or crashes. But distinguishing a skylight from a simple hole in the ground is difficult. Researchers are looking for angular images of the holes that revealed the void beneath them, he said, as well as other geological hints of a nearby cave. But nothing beats direct exploration, the researchers wrote.
Models suggest that Martian lava tubes were more likely to have grown to the point of collapse when the planet was volcanically active, and may be harder to find intact. A larger proportion of lunar tubes are likely to be structurally sound, the researchers wrote. This makes the lava tubes of the month better candidates for exploration.
It is important, the researchers wrote, that scientists develop a detailed plan for exploring the tubes. Currently, no rover is autonomous enough if built with the right equipment to play on the moon or Mars. And before designing and launching a rover to accomplish that task, satellites equipped with ground-penetrating radar or other technology must remotely sensing detailed maps of underground tube formations. The process of discovering ideal sites for human sub-lunar or sub-Martian habitation is likely to take a long time and involve many intermediate steps, the researchers wrote.
So while Earth may seem like a particularly inhospitable place at the moment, it’s a little too fast to pack up and move to an extraterrestrial lava tube.
Originally published on Live Science.
