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Living Underground on Other Worlds. Exploring Lava Tubes
Universe Today ^ | 12 Apr , 2018 | Fraser Cain

Posted on 04/12/2018 4:08:15 PM PDT by BenLurkin

Future Moon and Mars colonists will already be facing a life underground, to hide from the surface radiation, micrometeorite bombardment, extreme temperatures and to create a usable atmosphere. These natural tunnels will save them the hard work of needing to dig the tunnel. The natural roofs on these caverns are thought to be 10 meters or more thick, with one site estimated to have a roof that’s 45-90 meters thick. This would be more than enough to protect against solar radiation and galactic cosmic radiation.

While the surface of the Moon varies in temperature from -180 C to +100 C, the interior of a lava tube would remain a constant chilly -20 C. This would be easy enough to keep warmed up, once it was sealed off and pressurized with a breathable atmosphere.

As we’ve mentioned time and time again, the lunar dust on the Moon is dangerous stuff, irritating eyes, nasal passages and lungs. Lunar colonists would want to minimize their exposure to it at all costs. By sealing off the interior of the lava tube, they could prevent further dust from getting in. In fact, the dust is also electrically charged, and could be a hazard to electronics.

In terms of resources, the Moon has plenty. There’s aluminum everywhere in the regolith, as well as iron and titanium. But the most valuable one for humans, water, could be down there too. In the eternally shadowed craters, there could be large deposits of water collected down below that colonists could harvest.

...Future explorers could be protected inside the lava tubes at the same time that they’re in the ideal place to search for life on Mars. That’s convenient.

(Excerpt) Read more at universetoday.com ...


TOPICS: Travel
KEYWORDS: california; elonmusk; falcon9; falconheavy; marciebianco; mars; moon; nasa; spacex; stanford; themoon
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1 posted on 04/12/2018 4:08:15 PM PDT by BenLurkin
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To: All

I didn’t get this far in life to morph into a Morlock.


2 posted on 04/12/2018 4:10:11 PM PDT by BipolarBob (Build the Wall, with flamethrowers and machine gun nests.)
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To: BenLurkin
How do they know they're lava tubes?



3 posted on 04/12/2018 4:14:09 PM PDT by Bratch ("The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke)
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To: BenLurkin

The problem with lava tubes is lava!


4 posted on 04/12/2018 4:18:47 PM PDT by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: Bratch

Those spherical things, ground up, probably make a great fertilizer.


5 posted on 04/12/2018 4:19:12 PM PDT by C210N (Republicans sign check fronts; 'Rats sign check backs.)
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To: Bratch

I can’t quite remember. Did Kirk have sex with that thing?


6 posted on 04/12/2018 4:19:55 PM PDT by dsrtsage (For Leftists, World History starts every day at breakfast)
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To: BenLurkin
Brave New World
7 posted on 04/12/2018 4:23:41 PM PDT by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: dsrtsage

James Tiberius Kirk? Really?


8 posted on 04/12/2018 4:26:43 PM PDT by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: BenLurkin

Does Uranus have lava tubes?


9 posted on 04/12/2018 4:37:59 PM PDT by PetroniusMaximus
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To: BenLurkin
Many science fiction movies look like they were filmed in lava tubes.

Prometheus, for example:

Is this art imitating science or science imitating art?

10 posted on 04/12/2018 4:43:43 PM PDT by x
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To: BenLurkin
Lava tube near Flagstaff, AZ. A fun hike.

.


11 posted on 04/12/2018 4:49:21 PM PDT by Jeff Chandler (President Trump divides Americans . . . from anti-Americans.)
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To: dsrtsage
I can’t quite remember. Did Kirk have sex with that thing?
No. Spock did.



12 posted on 04/12/2018 4:50:42 PM PDT by Bratch ("The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke)
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To: Jeff Chandler

Cool!


13 posted on 04/12/2018 4:53:19 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: Jeff Chandler

Lava tube or underground river?


14 posted on 04/12/2018 4:55:24 PM PDT by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: BenLurkin

O2 and water are precious.

Food comes next...

Always something..


15 posted on 04/12/2018 5:00:27 PM PDT by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: mylife

Lava River Cave is a lava tube cave in northern Arizona’s Coconino National Forest. At approximately 0.75-mile (1.21 km) long, it is the longest cave of this kind known in Arizona.

Geologists believe the cave was formed sometime between 650,000 and 700,000 years ago when molten lava erupted from a volcanic vent in nearby Hart Prairie. The top, sides and bottom of the flow cooled and solidified, while lava in the middle flowed out, leaving a hollow space to form the cave.


16 posted on 04/12/2018 5:04:43 PM PDT by Jeff Chandler (President Trump divides Americans . . . from anti-Americans.)
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To: BenLurkin

Location. Location. Location.


17 posted on 04/12/2018 5:06:46 PM PDT by neverevergiveup
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To: Jeff Chandler

Pluto’s Cave in Weed, CA is pretty cool, too. Cool, dark and smelly.


18 posted on 04/12/2018 5:13:53 PM PDT by BillyBonebrake
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To: Jeff Chandler

AZ is amazing


19 posted on 04/12/2018 5:22:57 PM PDT by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: BenLurkin

Don’t know why ‘free water’ gets so much attention. Plenty of Oxygen and Hydrogen in Lunar rocks. Plenty of energy there to get it out.
Plus it’s never used up, unless exported.


20 posted on 04/12/2018 5:24:43 PM PDT by mrsmith (Dumb sluts: Lifeblood of the Media, Backbone of the Democrat/RINO Party!)
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