NASA - funded scientist using the agency ’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter ( LRO ) have discovered that the shaded areas in singular geologic features known as lunar pits brood around a pleasant 17 ° C ( 63 ° F ) , a great temperature to work and live in . This finding might be a gamechanger for future human exploration of the Moon .
The findings , print in the journal ofGeophysical Research Letters , show that the temperature in the perdition seems to be different from the one on the lunar Earth’s surface . Wildly so . During the two - hebdomad - long lunar daytime , the temperature on the surface can be high than the temperature that boils water on Earth .
Focusing on a 100 - meter - deep ( 328 feet ) cave in the Mare Tranquillitatis ( Sea of Tranquility ) and using computer modeling and data from LRO , the team let on that the temperature in the pit only changes slightly during the lunar day .
“ Lunar pits are a gripping feature on the lunar aerofoil , ” LRO undertaking scientist Noah Petro of NASA ’s Goddard Space Flight Center tell in astatement . “ Knowing that they make a stable thermal environment helps us paint a picture of these unequalled lunar feature and the prospect of one solar day explore them . ”
Lunar pits are a recent uncovering . scientist first spotted them in 2009 and since then , investigator have wonder if they could be access points to cave whereastronauts could find shelterfrom the Moon ’s harsh surface conditions such as dramatic changes in temperature , cosmic rays , solar radiation , andmicrometeorites .
“ About 16 of the more than 200 pits are probably collapsedlava tubes , ” said Tyler Horvath , a alumna researcher in terrestrial science at the University of California , Los Angeles . This means that at least some of them is a door ( or ceiling window ) to a cave .
“ human beings evolved living in cave , and to cave , we might return when we live on on the Moon , ” explained co - author David Paige , loss leader of theDiviner Lunar Radiometer Experimentthe team used to make these temperature measurements .
If everything go allot to program , humankind will be back on the aerofoil of the Moon within the next few years and these environments will get a very close looking at and perhaps even a petty home ground indoors .
