{"id":4505,"date":"2024-11-12T04:00:59","date_gmt":"2024-11-12T09:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/headlines\/?p=4505"},"modified":"2024-11-12T09:46:02","modified_gmt":"2024-11-12T14:46:02","slug":"finding-shelter-on-the-moon-in-a-cave","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/headlines\/2024\/11\/12\/finding-shelter-on-the-moon-in-a-cave\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding shelter on the moon, in a cave"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The first astronauts since the Apollo era will land on the lunar surface later this decade. If\u00a0NASA\u2019s Artemis program\u00a0proceeds as planned, it will eventually establish a\u00a0permanent presence\u00a0on the moon, near the water-rich south pole.<\/p>\n<p>Keeping astronauts safe for extended time periods on the moon will present multiple challenges: The moon is one of the most extreme and hostile environments in the solar system, featuring huge temperature swings in and out of sunlight, intense moonquakes, and galactic and stellar radiation.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Daytime temperatures near the equator can reach 250\u00b0F (121\u00b0C).<\/li>\n<li>Nighttime temperatures can drop to -208\u00b0F (-133\u00b0C).<\/li>\n<li>Temperatures in deep craters near the poles can drop below -410\u00b0F (-246\u00b0C) due to permanent shadows.<\/li>\n<li>Radiation levels are nearly 200 times the levels on Earth\u2019s surface\u00a0since the moon lacks the atmospheric and magnetic shielding of the Earth.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThe lunar surface is hostile to humans and machines,\u201d Tracy Gregg, a planetary volcanologist at the University at Buffalo told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalgeographic.com\/science\/article\/moon-cave-lava-tube-astronauts\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">National Geographic<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-4493\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/headlines\/files\/2024\/10\/moon-1024x971.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"420\" height=\"398\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Although manmade structures constructed on the lunar surface could provide shelter, it would be helpful if the moon offered some natural defenses.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cIt&#8217;s about having a ready-made habitat where astronauts can spend extended periods on the moon without contracting cancer,\u201d Paul Byrne, a planetary scientist at the Washington University in St. Louis, tells National Geographic.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>A study published this month in\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41550-024-02302-y.epdf?sharing_token=PN36F5sBrFuvcmjzOjTvOdRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0NM3XCoO8qqQAVpZqycEJ41v-Y1i8jue3aIH5QvXVkwNKM1VU1zJ66l13rexlhrvWyR1SrF_fl-osl851IG6owAa0mBcJWiYLUEFsYJHaDQToCmPmK9-zmmu3ISDRCd_-bbjc6mWGjLESX0dlosaOO6ajSxqNLEsAwtOYQWjRSDZUas1FsiA_ba07AU0JoJn7TrUFfzNVCqnuk84kIxwY2jwOTbMazxswZY2EG7dQTfD1SvRhx_8EIghgsSVe7Iq-i1YaKaSRDnUtbCEyWC6qkMLXdTxwM8mBBplC4SNQC9fTR2iT_AQssNgpKcXN-dfjc%3D&amp;tracking_referrer=www.theguardian.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Nature Astronomy<\/em><\/a>\u00a0provides the first direct evidence of the existence of such natural shelters. Lorenzo Bruzzone and Leonardo Carrer, researchers from the University of Trento in Italy, found the cave using radar to penetrate the opening of a pit on a rocky plain called the Mare Tranquillitatis, near where the Astronauts from Apollo 11 landed.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><div style=\"width: 510px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/cpsprodpb\/f588\/live\/1bc5b1c0-42a6-11ef-b83f-157e38fc9c03.jpg.webp\" alt=\"Black and white image of a hole in the surface of the moon taken from directly above with a pronounced shadow inside the hole. \" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" \/><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Mare Tranquillitatis pit examined in this study. Image credit: NASA<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>NASA finds a massive moon cave that could shelter astronauts<\/h2>\n<p>By analyzing old data from a probe orbiting the moon, researchers discovered that a pit near the Apollo 11 landing site is not just a pit. It is actually a long cave\u2014a volcanic tunnel formed by an ancient lava flow. It\u2019s at least 100m deep.<\/p>\n<p>The data used in the study were obtained by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) in 2010. The LRO camera captured images of the pits but could not see inside the pits. However, a small radar system, the Mini-RF instrument onboard the LRO, could peer inside the pits if the angle was optimal. But due to the limited resolution of the Mini-RF instrument of approximately 15 m by 30 m, the data could only be useful for evaluating pits that were at least 80 m across.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><div id=\"attachment_4517\" style=\"width: 514px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4517\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-4517 \" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/headlines\/files\/2024\/10\/Radar-finds-cave.jpg\" alt=\"The upper left corner shows a picture of the moon with a dot indicating the Apollo 11 landing site. A rectangular location on this image is enlarged in the upper right hand side and the location of the Mare Tranquillitatis pit is marked on the surface. The lower portion of the image is an illustration what shows how the LRO's radar view can extend into the pit at an angle to show more of the cave structure than what is visible from a photo taken directly above the pit. \" width=\"504\" height=\"500\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-4517\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image credit: Lorenzo Bruzzone and Leonardo Carrer, the University of Trento<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The researchers used the preexisting radar data on the Mare Tranquillitatis pit (MTP). The MTP is around 100m in diameter, and spreads further to an estimated 140 m in a below ground tunnel. This makes the MTP the right size for evaluating the LRO radar data.<\/p>\n<p>The 3D radar simulations were performed on the LRO images with RaySAR24. They found that a portion of the radar reflections from the MTP could be attributed to a cave below the surface.<\/p>\n<p>RaySAR is an open-source 3D synthetic aperture radar (SAR simulator) developed by the German Aerospace Center. It generates SAR images using a method called <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mathworks.com\/help\/comm\/ref\/rfprop.raytracing.html?s_tid=srchtitle_site_search_1_ray%20tracing\">ray tracing<\/a>. RaySAR is written in MATLAB and available on GitHub <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/StefanJAuer\/RaySAR\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><div style=\"width: 611px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/media.springernature.com\/m685\/springer-static\/image\/art%3A10.1038%2Fs41550-024-02302-y\/MediaObjects\/41550_2024_2302_Fig1_HTML.png\" alt=\"Four squares arranged in a 2 by 2 matrix. Each shows a black dot in the center with red dotted lines around the circumference of the dot. \" width=\"601\" height=\"442\" \/><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">The radar look direction is indicated with a white arrow, a,b, Mini-RF SAR image of the MTP (a) and its corresponding RGB decomposition (red, double bounce; blue, single scattering; green, volume scattering) (b). The MTP overhang and cave conduit radar echoes exhibit single- and double-bounce scattering, respectively. (c) DTM from stereo observations (d) 3D radar simulation of the DTM in c. The red dashed circle delineates the edge of the pit. Image credit: Carrer et al. Nature.<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>RaySAR generates detailed 3D object models. Specifically, it localizes the 3D positions and surface intersection points related to reflected radar signals.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.zmescience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/models.webp\" alt=\"The boxes in the upper left and lower left show a diagram of the cave opening with the area reached by the radar highlighted. The two boxes on the right hand side show a 3D reconstruction of MTP and the conduit at its base. \" width=\"711\" height=\"524\" \/><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>The newly discovered cave is the first subterranean conduit ever found on the moon, but there are likely many more yet to be discovered.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThere are probably hundreds to thousands of caves on the moon in the form of drained lava tubes,\u201d Gregg told National Geographic.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>With the available dataset on known lunar pits and the limited sensor resolution of the Mini-RF instrument, the method did not allow the researchers to identify caves other than the MTP. If new radar orbital sensors with higher resolution are deployed in the lunar orbit, this investigation could be substantially expanded.<\/p>\n<p>The researchers also explain that this SAR imagery-based method could also be used on Mars, for which more than 1,000 cave entrances have already been identified.<\/p>\n<p>One day, a cave on the moon or on Mars may become an astronaut&#8217;s home away from home.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>To read the full research paper, see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41550-024-02302-y\" target=\"_blank\">DOI: 10.1038\/s41550-024-02302-y<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"t m0 x0 h6 y5 ff5 fs3 fc1 sc0 ls5 ws5\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"overview-image\"><img decoding=\"async\"  class=\"img-responsive\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/headlines\/files\/2024\/10\/moon-1024x971.jpg\" onError=\"this.style.display ='none';\" \/><\/div>\n<p>The first astronauts since the Apollo era will land on the lunar surface later this decade. If\u00a0NASA\u2019s Artemis program\u00a0proceeds as planned, it will eventually establish a\u00a0permanent presence\u00a0on the&#8230; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/headlines\/2024\/11\/12\/finding-shelter-on-the-moon-in-a-cave\/\">read more >><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":138,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/headlines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4505"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/headlines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/headlines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/headlines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/138"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/headlines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4505"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/headlines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4505\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4544,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/headlines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4505\/revisions\/4544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/headlines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/headlines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/headlines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}