The international journal Earth-Science Reviews published a paper offering an overview of lava tubes (pyroducts) on Earth, eventually providing an estimate of the (greater) size of their lunar and Martian counterparts....
"We measured the size and gathered the morphology of lunar and Martian collapse chains (collapsed lava tubes), using digital terrain models (DTMs), which we obtained through satellite stereoscopic images and laser altimetry taken by interplanetary probes," reminds Riccardo Pozzobon. "We then compared these data to topographic studies about similar collapse chains on the Earth's surface and to laser scans of the inside of lava tubes in Lanzarote and the Galapagos. These data allowed to establish a restriction to the relationship between collapse chains and subsurface cavities that are still intact."
Researchers found that Martian and lunar tubes are respectively 100 and 1,000 times wider than those on Earth, which typically have a diameter of 10 to 30 meters. Lower gravity and its effect on volcanism explain these outstanding dimensions (with total volumes exceeding 1 billion of cubic meters on the Moon).
Riccardo Pozzobon adds: "Tubes as wide as these can be longer than 40 kilometers, making the Moon an extraordinary target for subsurface exploration and potential settlement in the wide protected and stable environments of lava tubes. The latter are so big they can contain Padua's entire city center."
"What is most important is that, despite the impressive dimension of the lunar tubes, they remain well within the roof stability threshold because of a lower gravitational attraction," explains Matteo Massironi, who is professor of Structural and Planetary Geology at the Department of Geosciences of the University of Padua. "This means that the majority of lava tubes underneath the maria smooth plains are intact. The collapse chains we observed might have been caused by asteroids piercing the tube walls. This is what the collapse chains in Marius Hills seem to suggest. From the latter, we can get access to these huge underground cavities."
Francesco Sauro concludes: "Lava tubes could provide stable shields from cosmic and solar radiation and micrometeorite impacts which are often happening on the surfaces of planetary bodies. Moreover, they have great potential for providing an environment in which temperatures do not vary from day- to night-time.
Thursday, August 06, 2020
Living in a tube on the Moon or Mars
Some interesting talk here of the size of lava tubes on the Moon and Mars, and their likely safety for a base:
Add a photo so we can see what these losers are calling "lava tubes". They may be talking about the glass and metal farms that an earlier civilisation had up there. They are in a state of grave disrepair sure. But their purpose is unmistakeable. Being as if we were to go to Mars we would have to reconstitute the exact same arrangement to house our agriculture.
ReplyDeleteThe Mars structures that I am talking about are only two lanes wide. I can see from what these guys are saying, they aren't talking about anything like that where the moon is concerned. Sure. You need to get underground real fast if you are on the moon. They are tripping if they think they are going to have surface buildings.
ReplyDeleteYou see the problem we have here. You can get nowhere until you are dug in so deep that night and day temperatures don't change, and you'll need a whole series of air-locks between underground rooms until you get to the centre which should be as high in oxygen and air pressure as is healthy. You'll need pumps going all the time. And on top of that you'll need to be picking up so much electrical energy from the solar wind. Huge investment.
ReplyDeleteStill once you get that full-blown economy up there you do have a lot of advantages. Less gravity and unlimited electrical energy.
One thing people aren't taking into account; They think now that they can source water from the moon and Mars. Well they are right. But the water is high in deuterium and so people will get tired, then sick then dead if they try to live on it. So you need to build up huge amounts of water stocks, sourced from earth before setting up there. Later because energy is so cheap you might have a system for deuterium depleted water. But its not going to be easy at first.
Think about these ridiculous projects in the presence of peak oil. We just have to get used to the idea that the space program has to be largely put on hold for a century. Whereas wharf-building, canal-building, and improving rail has to be lifted from the past and given a rocket up its butt.
ReplyDelete