NASA discovers new evidence pointing to a network of caves on the Moon

Jul 19. () –

An international team of scientists using data from the NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has discovered evidence of caves beneath the surface of the Moon.

By reanalyzing radar data collected by LRO’s Mini-RF (miniature radio frequency) instrument in 2010, The team found evidence of a cave that extended more than 60 meters from the base of a shaft.

The well is located more than 370 kilometers northeast of the first human landing site on the Moon, in Mare Tranquillitatis. The full extent of the cave is unknown, but it could extend for miles beneath the sea..

Scientists have suspected for decades that underground caves exist on the Moon, just as they do on Earth. Pits that might lead to caves were suggested in images taken by NASA’s lunar orbiters that mapped the Moon’s surface before NASA’s manned Apollo landings.

The existence of a trench was confirmed in 2009 from images taken by JAXA’s Kaguya orbiter, and many have since been found across the Moon through imaging and thermal measurements of the surface taken by LRO.

Just like the “lava tubes” found here on Earthscientists suspect that lunar caves were formed when Molten lava flowed beneath a cooled lava fieldor when a crust formed over a river of lava, leaving a long, hollow tunnel.

If the roof of a solidified lava tube collapses, a shaft opens, like a skylight, that can lead to the rest of the cave-like tube.

Mini-RF is operated by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. LRO is managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

Launched on June 18, 2009, LRO has collected a treasure trove of data with its seven powerful instruments, making an invaluable contribution to human knowledge about the Moon.

NASA is returning to the Moon with commercial and international partners to expand the human presence in space and bring back new knowledge and opportunities.