Caves of the Moon

Posted by Soulskill on Saturday October 24, 2009 @02:20AM from the and-the-horrors-that-lurk-within dept.

jeno passes along this excerpt from New Scientist: "A deep hole on the moon that could open into a vast underground tunnel has been found for the first time. The discovery strengthens evidence for subsurface, lava-carved channels that could shield future human colonists from space radiation and other hazards. ... The hole measures 65 meters across, and based on images taken at a variety of sun angles, the hole is thought to extend down at least 80 meters. It sits in the middle of a rille, suggesting the hole leads into a lava tube as wide as 370 meters across."

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Re:Access point to the hyperlogos by mpe · 2009-10-24 07:48 · Score: 5, Interesting

Sorry I can't find a better link, but you don't really need a lava tube for settlement, it just makes it cheaper and easier. You're still going to need an inflatable habitat

The obvious problem with an inflatable habitat is that anything the size of dust is going to make at least one hole in it. Patching is likely to take up quite a bit of someone's time.

or similar (honestly, what else makes sense?) to sit in the tube.

Install two bulkheads some distance apart and pressurize the space in between to 75 kPa.