Nasa LRO’s new discovery on moon: How it can impact humans?

Nasa has been keen to explore and understand the unknown space for the benefit of humanity. Time and again, it has inspired us with its findings.

Reportedly, pits were first discovered on Moon in the year 2009. Since then, scientists were curious to find out if they lead to any caves which can be used as shelters by humans. These lunar pits can also protect from harmful solar radiation, cosmic rays, and micrometeorites.

According to Tyler Horvath, a doctoral student in planetary science, at the University of California in Los Angeles, nearly 16 of more than 200 pits are probably collapsed lava tubes.

Lunar pits are a fascinating feature on the lunar surface, says LRO Project Scientist Noah petro of Nasa’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. He also added that knowing that these pits create a stable thermal environment helps us paint a picture of these unique lunar features and the prospect of one day exploring them.

The data processed by Horvath has been taken from Diviner, a thermal camera that finds out about the temperature within the pits, diverging from those on the surface.

Horvath and his colleagues have used computer modeling analysis techniques to find out the thermal properties of the rock, focusing on a roughly cylindrical 100-meter deep depression that has a length and width of approximately a football field, known as Mare Tranquillitatis, existing on the moon.

The results of Horvath’s research claim that temperatures within the permanently shadowed reaches of the pit keep on slightly fluctuating during the day on the moon, hovering at around 17 Celsius.

It is believed that the shadowing overhang is the primary reason for the steady temperature, This limits how hot things behave during the lunar day and prevent heat from raditaing away at night.

First article