Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff production of I Heart Radio, Hey brain
Speaker 1: Stuff Lauren vocal bamb here. Ever, since Neil Armstrong first
Speaker 1: set foot on the Moon, scientists have been toyed with
Speaker 1: the idea of forming potential colonies there and more recently
Speaker 1: on Mars too. But extreme fluctuating temperatures, cosmic radiation and
Speaker 1: micro meteorite showers colloquially known as space dust pose challenges
Speaker 1: to human excavation of both the Moon and Mars. However,
Speaker 1: astrobiologists are in the process of exploring nifty geological structures
Speaker 1: that could serve as natural shelter from these harsh elements.
Speaker 1: Lava tubes. So what are lava tubes? We spoke via
Speaker 1: email with Dr Ricardo Pozibon of the Department of Geosciences
Speaker 1: at the University of Padova. He's been at the forefront
Speaker 1: of European research on lava tubes. He explained. Lava tubes
Speaker 1: are caves that are carved by flowing lava that's eventually
Speaker 1: drained out, leaving a subsurface void. Although there are different
Speaker 1: types of lava tube formations, these caves often form out
Speaker 1: of a type of fluid basaltic lava that flows down
Speaker 1: a slope like the side of a volcano. As the
Speaker 1: outermost portion of the hot lava flow comes in contact
Speaker 1: with the cold air, it cools rapidly, forming a hardened crust,
Speaker 1: but liquid lava continues to flow like water in a
Speaker 1: channel underneath this newly hardened surface. At some point that
Speaker 1: liquid lava runs out and cools underneath the surface, forming
Speaker 1: a curvy tube shaped structure, and thus a lava tube
Speaker 1: is born. Geologists no lava tubes from volcanic areas in
Speaker 1: Hawaii or Iceland, but they've also become a hot commodity
Speaker 1: within the astrobiology community due to high resolution images indicating
Speaker 1: that lava tubes may exist on the Moon and Mars
Speaker 1: as well. Many sites thought to be lava tubes are
Speaker 1: detected by the presence of these curvy channels, and more recently,
Speaker 1: the Setty Institute announced the discovery of possible skylights or
Speaker 1: lava tube openings in a crater near the north pole
Speaker 1: of the Moon, using images obtained from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance orbiter.
Speaker 1: But lava tubes are a tricky business. Scientific technology is
Speaker 1: still playing catchup and identifying these underground habitats. We also
Speaker 1: spoke by email with Leonardo Career of the Remote Sensing
Speaker 1: Laboratory at the University of Trento. He said the main
Speaker 1: difficulty comes from the fact that lava tubes are essentially
Speaker 1: subsurface structures. Very few instruments are capable of performing direct
Speaker 1: measurements of underground structures. The Careers team is working to
Speaker 1: modernize the technology and thus aid future human settlement of
Speaker 1: these lunar caves. The technology involves using radar which can
Speaker 1: detect lava tubes from orbit based on their unique electromagnetic signatures. Basically,
Speaker 1: they can probe below the surface of the Moon using
Speaker 1: low frequency electromagnetic waves and then measure the reflected waves
Speaker 1: that come back to them. Those reflections offer insight into
Speaker 1: a lava tube's characteristics, like its shape, size, and composition.
Speaker 1: But one thing is clear, lava tubes on the Moon
Speaker 1: and Mars are invaluable as natural potential habitats, or at
Speaker 1: the very least could serve as convenient storage units between
Speaker 1: space missions. Meanwhile, back on Earth, scientists are preparing for
Speaker 1: future missions to the Moon and Mars through a little
Speaker 1: cave diving. The European Space Agency developed a program called
Speaker 1: Pangaea that prepares European astronauts to explore other planets. One
Speaker 1: of its projects concerns a lava tube in Spain called
Speaker 1: Corona that's eight kilometers long or about five miles. The
Speaker 1: team has undertaken advanced mapping of the tube to create
Speaker 1: a three D model that's accurate down to the millimeter.
Speaker 1: They've also been testing out new robots or rovers to
Speaker 1: identify how best to navigate these tubes, developing a greater
Speaker 1: understanding of the challenges associated with incursions into lava tubes
Speaker 1: on other planets in the process. Other researchers have also
Speaker 1: taken an interest in exploring the microbiology of lava tubes
Speaker 1: by focusing their efforts on the Lava Beds National Monument
Speaker 1: in California. This project, funded by the Canadian Space Agency,
Speaker 1: is looking to explore lava tubes as habitats of micro organisms,
Speaker 1: which may leave traces behind through certain minerals and thus
Speaker 1: indicate the presence of life once upon a time, which
Speaker 1: is cool enough on Earth, but would be an amazing
Speaker 1: find on the Moon or Mars. So what's the difference
Speaker 1: between lava tubes on Earth and their lunar and Martian counterparts? Well, gravity,
Speaker 1: for one, The lower gravity on the Moon and Mars
Speaker 1: seems to impact the size of lava tubes significantly. Tubes
Speaker 1: on Mars can stretch for two hundred and fifty in
Speaker 1: width or about eight hundred twenty feet, and tubes on
Speaker 1: the Moon can reach a whopping kilometer or more across
Speaker 1: that's about two thirds of a mile. The lower gravity
Speaker 1: also stabilizes the roofs of these tubes and causes fewer collapses,
Speaker 1: especially on the Moon, thereby creating a potentially safer dwelling
Speaker 1: for human habitation. But otherwise, lava tubes on Earth are
Speaker 1: fairly similar in composition and structure to those on the
Speaker 1: Moon and Mars, and serves excellent reference points for researchers.
Speaker 1: The potential for lunar caves and possible human settlements has
Speaker 1: many people excited, even the White Houses making a bid
Speaker 1: for Moon colonies in the near future, and the possibility
Speaker 1: of answering whether life has existed or may still flourish
Speaker 1: in caves on Mars is a tantalizing one for space explorers.
Speaker 1: But if you're wondering whether or not Martians will be
Speaker 1: found hey ing around these lava tubes on the Red planet,
Speaker 1: the answer is likely no, unless you count microbial critters. Radiation,
Speaker 1: a dry environment, and fridge and temperatures make the planet
Speaker 1: inhospitable to most forms of life. While using ground rovers
Speaker 1: to access lava tubes on the Moon and Mars could
Speaker 1: be difficult due to surface conditions, other devices are being
Speaker 1: developed to aid these explorations, including climbing and hopping pit
Speaker 1: bots and flying helicopter like vehicles, likes of which may
Speaker 1: appear in NASA's Mars rover mission. Today's episode was written
Speaker 1: by Terra yr Lagata and produced by Tyler Clang. Rain
Speaker 1: Stuff is a production of iHeart Radio's How Stuff Works.
Speaker 1: For more on this and lots of other totally tubular topics,
Speaker 1: visit our home planet, how stuff Works dot com. And
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