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Chandrayaan-1 Spots Giant Underground Chamber On the Moon

Posted by timothy on from the where-the-tang-mines-will-be dept.

siliconeyes writes "Scientists at the Indian Space Research Organization have discovered a giant underground chamber on the moon, which they feel could be used as a base by astronauts on future manned missions to moon. An analysis by an instrument on Chandrayaan-1 revealed a 1.7-km long and 120-metre wide cave near the moon's equator that is in the Oceanus Procellarum area of the moon that could be a suitable 'base station' for future human missions."

8 of 322 comments (clear)

  1. Re:to echo a commenter on TFA.... by Brett+Buck · · Score: 5, Informative

    There are certainly dust storms of a sort. Dust is moved by electrostatic forces as the sun rises and sets - all those charged particles coming out of the Sun, unimpeded, is like rubbing an amber rod with cat fur.

  2. Lava Tube by icebike · · Score: 5, Informative

    A far better link is this one: http://www.moonsociety.org/reports/ISRO_Lavatube_Discovery.html

    You can't tell the length of a chamber from a photograph of the surface. Its not at all clear that there is any enclosed space in this tube. It could have been that the un-collapsed section is in fact filled full of derbies. Until we can hit them with ground penetrating radar its probably guesswork.

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    1. Re:Lava Tube by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      If you're going to be outrageously pedantic, you should at least strive to be correct while you're at it.
      == does not represent a query, it represents a comparisson, indicating "is equal to". A single = would mean "thing on left becomes thing on right".
      Next, it's "rather than" - saying you'd rather empty out a chamber filled out with crap then construct a chamber from scratch is stupid - why would you construct one from scratch if you've already emptied one out? (hint: Then with an E means "do thing A. Then do thing B", and both get done. "Than" with an A is for comparing, where you're rather do thing A than thing B, and only one gets done.
      (You ARE the one who wanted to get pedantic.)
      As for the practicality of it, a chamber-shaped area filled with rubble with no atmosphere and lunar gravity is likely to be every bit as difficult to clear out as it would be to dig a fresh tunnel. Possibly more so, due to the possibility of collapsing rubble from an already partly collapsed lava tube. There's a good chance that the rubble may be the only thing preventing further collapse. (ie: The roof of the tube is resting on it.)

  3. Data haven by Jaxoreth · · Score: 4, Informative

    Since the moon isn't covered by any legal jurisdiction, it would be a perfect place to set up a data haven. In fact, I believe one company already has plans to set up a lunar facility.

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    In general, it is safe and legal to kill your children. -- POSIX Programmer's Guide
  4. Re:dust-free? really? by quarterbuck · · Score: 5, Informative

    The original paper is published in an open access journal and the authors have covered the issues you mention.
    Their citations 2-8 are other papers which discuss the possibility of using caves like this for human habitation. The paper also includes spectroscopic studies of the composition of the roof -- seems like lots of Iron and Titanium.This seems to indicate Basalts (volcanic) according to the paper.If it withstood a lava flow, presumably it will survive an atmospheric re-pressurisation/ bunch of construction crews drilling away.

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  5. Re:to echo a commenter on TFA.... by Mt._Honkey · · Score: 4, Informative

    Moon dust should not be so quickly dismissed. It isn't like sand on Earth which has its edges blunted by wind and water erosion, because there is no such erosion on the moon. Moon dust is essentially microscopic shards of broken glass with very sharp edges. It's really nasty stuff, it sticks to everything like barbs. Managing moon dust will have to be a major practical consideration for a lunar colony.

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  6. Re:to echo a commenter on TFA.... by metalcup · · Score: 3, Informative

    http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2005/07dec_moonstorms/

    Nope, there are moonstorms. From the link:

    "All this matters to NASA because, by 2018 or so, astronauts are returning to the Moon. Unlike Apollo astronauts, who never experienced lunar sunrise, the next explorers are going to establish a permanent outpost. They'll be there in the morning when the storm sweeps by.

    The wall of dust, if it exists, might be diaphanous, invisible, harmless. Or it could be a real problem, clogging spacesuits, coating surfaces and causing hardware to overheat.

    Which will it be? Says Stubbs, "we've still got a lot to learn about the Moon."

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    "Laziness is an optimisation protocol"
  7. C programming language, not mathematical notation by perpenso · · Score: 3, Informative

    These folks are not using mathematical notation. They are using the C programming language.