NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft has captured the most detailed photographs of two giant holes in the lunar surface to date. These holes look like black holes extending deep into the satellite, and are of particular scientific interest.
Scientists believe that the dark gaps were formed as a result of the destruction of an underground lava tube. As a result of some kind of impact, possibly a meteorite impact, part of the rock fell into the depths, forming a fairly even deep depression. In fact, this is a kind of cave with a collapsed ceiling, which opens up deeper layers of rocks for researchers, inaccessible under normal conditions.
The dark sinkhole of Mare Ingenii could serve as an excellent site for the construction of a lunar base. Residential modules inside the hole would be protected from cosmic radiation by a thick layer of lunar soil.
One of these holes is Marius Hills. It has already been studied using the Japanese SELENE / Kaguya probe. Marius Hills has a diameter of about 65 meters and an estimated depth of 80 to 88 meters. It's big enough to hide a large building like the American White House.
The hole of Mare Ingenii is almost twice the size of Marius Hills. Most surprisingly, it is located in an area with relatively few signs of volcanic activity.
Scientists at Carnegie Mellon University believe that these lunar formations are of great importance for space exploration. They can be an excellent location for a lunar base and a platform for testing methods for finding life on Mars.
Despite advances in optics, it is very difficult to take detailed photographs of the bottom of the dips. The LRO probe was lucky to "catch" the desired angle of incidence of the sun's rays, which illuminated the bottom of the hole. At present, scientists have focused mainly on modeling volcanic lunar formations. Calculations show that the accuracy of simulated experiments has already reached 92%, which is much higher than the results obtained in the course of experiments directly using spacecraft. So the technique for studying dark holes, developed at Carnegie Mellon University, allows us to learn much more about unusual formations than simple observations from orbit.
Data on lunar holes may be needed in the design of lunar bases and mining complexes, as well as for the development of technologies for exploration of similar formations on Mars. It is possible that it is in such dark gaps that Martian life lurks.
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