Scientists have discovered a cave on the moon at the Sea of Tranquility they say could provide shelter to future astronauts.
Its location is near where astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong landed 55 years ago during the Apollo 11 mission, the Associated Press (AP) reported Monday.
According to the Italian-led team of scientists, “there’s evidence for a sizable cave accessible from the deepest known pit on the moon. It’s located at the Sea of Tranquility, just 250 miles (400 kilometers) from Apollo 11’s landing site,” the outlet said.
Video footage shows what appears to be a moon pit, and ABC 7 noted scientists have suspected such caves have existed for many years:
The collapse of a lava tube created the pit, the AP article continued:
Researchers analyzed radar measurements by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, and compared the results with lava tubes on Earth. Their findings appeared in the journal Nature Astronomy.
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The findings suggest there could be hundreds of pits on the moon and thousands of lava tubes. Such places could serve as a natural shelter for astronauts, protecting them from cosmic rays and solar radiation as well as from micrometeorite strikes. Building habitats from scratch would be more time-consuming and challenging, even when factoring in the potential need of reinforcing the cave walls to prevent a collapse, the team said.
According to NASA, Apollo 11’s primary objective was “to complete a national goal set by President John F. Kennedy on May 25, 1961: perform a crewed lunar landing and return to Earth.”
The astronauts on the mission were Armstrong, Aldrin, and Michael Collins, and NASA noted that Armstrong was the first man to walk on the moon.
Per the AP article, Leonardo Carrer and Lorenzo Bruzzone of the University of Trento said it was “exciting” to be able to prove the existence of a lunar cave after so many years.
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