We may have been to the moon, but our celestial neighbour still hides many secrets, but one of them has just been unearthed (or not discovered on the moon?) by an international team of researchers, who have, for the first time, proven that caves exist on the moon.
The cave is MonthThe Sea of Tranquility Apollo 11 The landing site is 130 feet (40 meters) wide and several dozen yards long. “These caves have been suspected for more than 50 years, but this is the first time their existence has been demonstrated,” said Lorenzo Bruzzone, a professor at the University of Trento in Italy. It said in a statement.
The researchers found evidence of this in NASA data. Lunar probe (LRO) was originally photographed by a small radio frequency (Mini-RF) instrument in 2010. The team reanalyzed the data using new processing techniques and found radar returns that suggest a cave. “The most likely explanation for our observations is an empty lava tube,” said researcher Leonardo Carrel of the University of Trento. This is the first of its kind the team has found, but there are probably many more.
The existence of the caves is exciting in itself, but they also hold great promise for future lunar exploration. The surface of the moon is an extremely harsh place, with surface temperatures ranging from 260°F (127°C) to -279°F (-173°C). In addition, the intense solar radiation is 150 times stronger than on Earth. Therefore, lunar caves could be used as shelters for astronauts.
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“This work shows how lunar radar data can be used in new ways to answer fundamental science and exploration questions, and how important it is to continue collecting lunar remote sensing data,” said Mini-RF principal investigator Wes Patterson of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. “This will include the current LRO mission and hopefully future orbiter missions.”
The paper on these results is Published The findings were published in Nature magazine on July 15th.
