Spacelunking? Scientists Discover Cave on Moon

Thought Question: If you could explore any unknown place, either on Earth or in space, where would you go and why?

Despite what the old proverb says, the moon isn’t made of green cheese. It is, though, covered in holes and pits that could make one think of a good block of Swiss. A new study suggests some of those craters could be caves that could hold the key for future space missions. 

A team of scientists has deduced that a pit in the Sea of Tranquility is home to a large cave. It's not far from where US astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first human to walk on the moon. The team used radar beams bounced off the moon’s surface by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter to find the cave. It is at least 130 feet wide and 30 feet deep. The team who found it noted that radar can only measure the upper parts of the cave. They say it is likely much deeper.  

“Lunar caves have remained a mystery for over 50 years. So it was exciting to be able to finally prove the(ir) existence,” Leonardo Carrer and Lorenzo Bruzzone of the University of Trento told The Associated Press. They published their findings Monday in the journal Nature Astronomy. 

The cave is the product of tunnels of lava that flowed across and beneath the moon’s surface millenia ago. There could be hundreds more like it. They are of interest to experts for many reasons. For example, rock samples from the caves may offer clues to the moon’s origin. They could also make living on the moon possible, the research team says.  

“The (cave) is a promising site for a lunar base," they wrote. "It offers shelter from the harsh surface environment and could support long-term human exploration of the moon."  

Gif of the surface of the moon from GIPHY.