Caves on the Moon!
Scientists have now identified more than 200 cave pits on the Moon.
The pits range in size from about 5 meters (~5 yards) across to more than 900 meters (~984 yards) in diameter, and three of them were first identified using images from the Japanese Kaguya spacecraft. Hundreds more were found using a new computer algorithm that automatically scanned thousands of high-resolution images of the lunar surface from LRO’s Narrow Angle Camera (NAC).
This work is essentially the same as that done by James Fincannon and I back in 2011 (see links here, here, here, and here) but with much greater thoroughness.
Readers!
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Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
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Scientists have now identified more than 200 cave pits on the Moon.
The pits range in size from about 5 meters (~5 yards) across to more than 900 meters (~984 yards) in diameter, and three of them were first identified using images from the Japanese Kaguya spacecraft. Hundreds more were found using a new computer algorithm that automatically scanned thousands of high-resolution images of the lunar surface from LRO’s Narrow Angle Camera (NAC).
This work is essentially the same as that done by James Fincannon and I back in 2011 (see links here, here, here, and here) but with much greater thoroughness.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
This is intriguing because obviously there can’t be karst on the moon. There has never been water, and life is necessary to form limestone and dolomite, negating the possibility of karst. Also, there is no tectonic activity to form caves. How can this be?
Bob – have you scheduled your cave exploration trip there yet ?
Hi Dave,
Follow the links to my earlier articles on caves on the Moon. Most of these caves are variations of lava caves or tubes on Earth, formed by either volcanic activity or impact melting when a big meteor hits the surface.
Heh. My effort these days is to do as much as I can to encourage private enterprise in the aerospace industry, as that will lower the cost of getting to orbit. Eventually, that will make it cheap enough for ordinary cave bums like me to make the trip.
Ah, yes, impact melting. I hadn’t considered that. I had the impression that there was no volcanic activity on the moon, which I meant when I said no tectonic activity. But I could see the possibility of a “lava tube” resulting from impact melting. To go caving in 1/6 G would be incredible.
One thing I could *not* find in the article was even a URL for a list of the candidate lava tube sites. Better would be a collection of *all* the pics of the sites. Surely these should be online somewhere, beyond the standard LROC pics library. Even a list of pics within that library would help. Robert Wagner is quoted in the article, and is an LROC tech.
Ha! No, for some reason they do not provide such a list. Perhaps they are awaiting publication of more papers on the topic. I have asked nicely though…..
I consider these caves to be , hands-down-, the most important places for consideration for the 1st permanent moon base. Nothing else will come close to provide shielding such as this for the hard radiation, and it is “pre-fabbed” already to go. No excavating needed. Considering they’ve been there for eons, I would think they are very stable. I would love to see a rover like the Mars Spirit go down and give us a look see. I’m sure surprises wait in abundance..