As the global climate crisis leads to record temperatures around the world, there’s actually one place in the universe that’s at a comfortable temperature right now: craters on the surface of the moon.
These moon pits, a set of caves and collapsed lava tubes buried on the surface, were discovered by NASA as potentially thermally stable sites for mechanical and human exploration, resting at a comfortable temperature of 63 degrees Fahrenheit (or about 17 degrees Celsius).
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The new data comes from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft and computer modeling, part of a lunar exploration initiative to map the surface of the Moon first launched in 2009; the spacecraft’s orbital mission was later expanded and assigned several more lunar science objectives intended to reveal. information about the environment of the Moon. The pits were first revealed in the initial LRO mapping expedition.
“Moon craters are a fascinating feature on the lunar surface,” LRO project scientist Noah Petro wrote in NASA’s announcement. “Knowing that they create a stable thermal environment helps us paint a picture of these unique lunar features and the prospect of exploring them one day.”
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Surface temperatures on the moon are not usually as temperate as those in the pits, with daytime temperatures reaching 260 degrees Fahrenheit (about 127 degrees Celsius) and nighttime lows as low as -280 Fahrenheit (about -173 degrees Celsius). NASA says the pits were being investigated as potential cave networks that could be explored or safely used as shelters from cosmic rays, solar radiation and micrometeorites that affect space expeditions. Several of the pits show evidence of cliff overhangs and other outcrops that provide needed shade from the extreme heat and suggest subsurface caves large enough to enter.
NASA scientists, including David Paige, who co-authored the temperature measurement paper and leads the Diviner lunar radiometer experiment aboard LRO, say this temperature discovery could make this lunar exploration very easier for us non-mechanical beasts. “Humans evolved living in caves, and we could go back to caves when we live on the moon,” he said.