Thirty mile cave on the Moon?
A new analysis of data from Japan’s Kaguya lunar orbiter suggests that one of the cave pits it found could be an entrance to a lava tube 30 miles long.
In 2009, the Kaguya probe found a large shaft with an opening about 50 meters in diameter in the Marius Hills area. The shaft descends about 50 meters beneath the surface.
The JAXA team analyzed data obtained from a lunar radar sounder on the probe that indicated an underground structure extended west from the shaft. The study confirmed that the cavern, likely created by volcanic activity, has not collapsed, and there is the possibility of ice or water existing in rocks within the cave, the team said.
Do a search on Behind the Black using the search terms “cave” and “moon” and you will see many images of this pit, taken by Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter as a follow-up to the Kaguya mission.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
A new analysis of data from Japan’s Kaguya lunar orbiter suggests that one of the cave pits it found could be an entrance to a lava tube 30 miles long.
In 2009, the Kaguya probe found a large shaft with an opening about 50 meters in diameter in the Marius Hills area. The shaft descends about 50 meters beneath the surface.
The JAXA team analyzed data obtained from a lunar radar sounder on the probe that indicated an underground structure extended west from the shaft. The study confirmed that the cavern, likely created by volcanic activity, has not collapsed, and there is the possibility of ice or water existing in rocks within the cave, the team said.
Do a search on Behind the Black using the search terms “cave” and “moon” and you will see many images of this pit, taken by Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter as a follow-up to the Kaguya mission.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
What is a good material to line the tunnels with and would they require structural reinforcement? Could anything needed to fix up the tunnels be manufactured on the Moon or would it have to be shipped from Earth or someplace else?
Seems like a project for Western Mappers; one sixth the body weight? Too bad about the other gear required.
What will the explorers say when they get in? “We do this for fun.”
At 1/6 the gravity a hard hat should be great protection against rocks falling from the cave roof a meter above. And from further heights one has time to step aside.
Hergé’s 1950s Moon adventure with Tintin gets more and more realistic every year. Except for the nuclear propulsion, he used the BRF rocket design. And they discovered water ice in a cave on the Moon. Ridiculous at the time, but now it is happening. Although without the Belgian sense of humor.
Belgian sense of humor? I lived and worked in Belgium for a time. Compared to the Italians, the Dutch and even the Germans, the Belgians were a dour and phlegmatic breed. The normative Belgian I encountered didn’t seem to have a sense of humor.
But then, even in English translation, I could never make head nor tail of what Tintin was supposed to be all about either. Even without translation, I could make more sense out of Japanese manga. Not a lot, mind you, just more.
Tintin is about Hergé making up a story as he goes. Unlikely events make a 62 page adventure advance page by page. “The Calculus Affair” is the most intense example of that. His realism created my worldview of a mid-century Europe without the war. Although the shadow of evil rivalry is present in space exploration races to the Moon and to landed asteroids, in crime investigations and in made up countries.
I don’t know any Belgians, I’m not sure it is even a people, no more than the Spanish or British or French or Italians and on and on. They are Flams and French, right? But Hergé (French) created humorous characters. Inspired by real world people, like professor Calculus was inspired by an astrophysicist exploring cosmic rays early on:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professor_Calculus#Inspirations
wodun–
for my money, it’s going to be some formulation of ‘shot-crete,’ made with indigenous Moon”dirt” constituents and some polymer-chemistry, tailored to cure in harsh conditions.
Dick-
That, is hilarious!
LocalFluff–
“His realism created my worldview of a mid-century Europe without the war.”
–That, makes perfect sense to me!
Not a big fan of Tintin myself, although I have a collected-works of his, somewhere in the house.
Georges Remi, a Belgian, drew and wrote TinTin under the name Herge. It was the most popular indigenous comic in Europe.)
For an extensive bio & examples of his art, see:
https://www.lambiek.net/artists/h/herge.htm
pivoting—
has anyone read the series “Maus” by Art Spiegelman?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maus
-very powerful presentation
“It depicts Spiegelman interviewing his father about his experiences as a Polish Jew and Holocaust survivor. The work employs postmodern techniques and represents Jews as mice and other Germans and Poles as cats and pigs.”