Our planet Earth over the millions of years of its evolutionary timescale has developed various volcanic caves that once upon a time used to carry the Lava Tubes, Shields Object
Similarly, it has now been found that just like Earth, Moon and Mars too have developed the lava tubes on their subsurface, but there is a difference between the lava tubes on Earth and the ones on Moon and Mars.
Shields Object, These volcanic tubes on Moon and Mars, according to a study published in the ‘Earth Science Reviews’ journal, are reportedly 100 and 1,000 times bigger than Earth.
How will these Lava tubes help in future explorations?
One of the lead authors of the study said in a statement that these Lava tubes could shield an object from solar radiation and the impact of small meteor strikes. “Moreover, they have great potential for providing an environment in which temperatures do not vary from day- to nighttime. Space agencies are now interested in planetary caves and lava tubes, as they represent a first step toward future explorations of the lunar surface and toward finding life in Mars subsurface,” Franceso Sauro, the lead author of the study added.
Shields Object, The researchers from Universities of Bologna and Padua came to these findings through High-resolution pictures of the lava tubes on Mars and Moon. They further compared these lava tubes to the ones present on the Earth, as in Hawaii, Canary Islands, Australia and Iceland. The subsequent analysis showed that these lava tubes could act as shields against the solar radiation.
‘Lava tubes can accommodate large number of astronauts’: Expert
Riccardo Pozzobon, a planetary geologist at the University of Padua indicated that these voluminous lava tubes could be potential settlements for humans, since the protected and stable environments of lava tubes can accommodate a large number of astronauts, Universe Today reported.
This news was originally published at english.jagran.com