There Could Be Lava Tubes on the Moon, Large Enough for Whole Cities

Lava Tubes Beneath Lunar Surface – Bigger and More Stable

A research of networks of lava tubes that tend to wind beneath the lunar surface proposes that they could have been bigger and more stable than presumed earlier. The researchers sculpting the tunnels which are the remains of volcanic activity in the moon’s early stages are of the belief that they could possibly be up to around three miles wide thus raising the hope for subterranean bases.

The lava tubes which have been located in Iceland as well as Hawaii seem to be huge tunnels that have been carved out of the rock by the flowing lava. Geologists are of the opinion that they have been developed from streams of magma that had run dry, leaving channels through the solid rock.

Scientists are of the belief that the same structures are probably found beneath the lunar surface depending on small gravitational changes as well as images of cave openings gathered from lunar orbiters. If the lava tubes are found and seem to be stable they could offer shelter for a lasting lunar base.

Overcome Problems – Potential Hazards

This would help in overcoming the problems pertaining to potential hazards confronted by a base on the surface inclusive of the risk of meteorites as well as the increased solar radiation owing to the absence of protective atmosphere.

A group from Purdue University in Indiana had utilised computer demonstrating procedures in analysing how huge these tunnels could possibly grow. The circumstances on Earth would mean that the tubes tend to be limited to 30 metres across though the gravitational evidence recommends that on the moon they could be much larger. Utilising evaluations of rock density from the samples of moon rock, it was presumed that the width of the tubes would probably be thrice wider than their height.

The effects indicated that the stability is governed by the width of the tube, thickness of the roof together with the physical stress on the rock. In a paper published in journal Icarus, researchers had explained that if adequately deep, the lunar condition would probably generate fissures kilometres wide.

Lunar Base – Twice Commercial Base

It was informed that the theoretical maximum size of a lunar lava tube was based on various factors though with sufficient burial depth – 500 m together with an initial lithostatic stress state, the results portrayed that the lava tubes up to 3 miles – 5 km wide would be capable of staying structurally stable.

The estimates surpassed the earlier sizes that had been provided by the group during the 2015 conference which had recommended that tubes of 0.6 miles in diameter could be adequately steady to house permanent bases below the surface. Nasa scientists had earlier in the year calculated that there could be a possibility of returning to the surface of the moon in the next five to seven years at a total cost of about $10 billion.Spaceflight experts have debated in a series of papers, on the cost of building a lunar base which tend to be much less than anticipated and that there could be a substantial commercial value there.

They had mentioned that a lunar base can be twice a commercial mining base to enable the resources of the moon to be exploited. According to evidence, the moon could be a rich source of water ice, together with rare metals as well as a rare isotope of helium.