“The secret shelter”: on the moon found an unusual cave

According to the researchers, in a secret cave can fit the whole city.

In the new study confirmed the existence of vast open lava tube in the region of the Marius Hills on the moon’s surface, which can be used to protect astronauts from the dangerous effects of cosmic radiation.

Never was on the moon’s surface for more than three days, mainly for the reason that spacesuits are not able to provide the required level of protection from the harsh environment, supported on the surface of the natural satellite of Earth: extreme temperature changes, radiation, and falling meteorites. Unlike Earth the Moon has no atmosphere or magnetic field that can protect people living on its surface from cosmic threats.

The safest place on the surface of the moon are considered to be a lava tube. They constitute the channels, formed during the solidification of the crust on the surface of the stream of moving lava. After hardening of the lava crust forms a thick roof of the tunnel.

In the new work of Japanese scientists under the leadership of T. Kaku (Kaku T.) combined data of radar observations of the lunar surface using SELENE spacecraft with data on the gravitational field of the moon obtained by the NASA mission GRAIL, to detect never-before-described lava tubes. Radar data allow to detect the entrance of open lava tubes at two different echo accompanying the signal reflected from the surface of the moon due to reflection, respectively, of the arch and bottom of the lava tube. Data for the gravitational field of the moon can detect a large lava tube, whose presence decreases the local gravitational field of the moon due to the reduction of the mass of material under the surface.

This lava tube, located in the Marius Hills region was so large that can accommodate a large city, said the authors.

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