Scientists have found lava tubes on Mars and the moon are so wide, they could be prime real estate for humans to set up shop.
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00:003.
00:04Lava tubes on Mars and the Moon could be prime real estate for humans to set up shop.
00:10Scientists have been studying lava tubes on Earth to see if their counterparts in space
00:14would be up to snuff, and they found the ones on Mars and the Moon are so wide they could
00:19host planetary bases.
00:21The team, involving the universities of Bologna and Padua, used digital terrain models to
00:26measure collapsed lava tubes and compared them to ones on Earth.
00:30Martian tubes are about 100 times wider than ones on Earth, while the Moon's are 1,000
00:35times their size.
00:37Researchers say tubes as wide as those can be longer than 24 miles, making them great
00:42for potential settlement.
00:44Even though they're that big, researchers say they're still within the roof stability
00:47threshold due to the lower gravitational attraction.
00:50Lava tubes could also provide protection from cosmic and solar radiation and micrometeorite
00:56impacts and provide stable temperatures.
00:58The research was published in the journal Earth Science Reviews.