Lava tube cities could be key to colonization of Moon and Mars

[R]esearchers at the European Planetary Science Congress, an annual meeting of that serves as a “dissemination platform” for new space studies, presented a possible solution to the space habitat problem: Humans on Mars and the Moon could build their settlements within the planet’s massive lava tubes.

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“These results have important implications for habitability and human exploration of the Moon but also for the search for extraterrestrial life on Mars,” says [co-author Riccardo] Pozzobon. “Lava tubes are environments shielded from cosmic radiation and protected from micrometeorites flux, potentially providing safe habitats for future human missions. They are also, potentially, large enough for quite significant human settlements”

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Lava tubes form when the edges of lava from a volcanic eruption cools and forms a ridge around the flow of lava. When the lava stops flowing the ridge cools, forms a crust, and when drained becomes a tunnel. These tubes become even larger when lava flows into layers of rock and cavities that have been altered by previous eruptions, and networks of connected tunnels can emerge.

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Lava tube-space cities sound pretty cool. Now scientists have to figure out how to transport and feed the humans that will live there.

The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion, and analysis. Read full, original post: Mars Colonist Could Live in Lava Tubes Beneath the Surface