NASA discovers that some lunar pits contain temperatures that are suitable for people.

It’s possible that humanity will one day reside on the moon. This is not just science fiction, scientists are actually optimistic as multiple researchers attempt to know how the so-called lunar habitation will happen in reality. However, even the specialists are aware that landing astronauts on the Moon is more challenging than setting up a tent.

This can be made a little clearer. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), an American space agency, recently proposed that people may live in caverns on the moon.

Pits on the lunar surface that are consistently around a pleasant temperature of 63F have been discovered by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft (about 17C). NASA-funded scientists found it using data from LRO spacecraft and computer modelling.

According to NASA, the Moon’s pits were first spotted there in 2009. Following that, researchers have started examining the possibility of using the caverns as shelters.

Additionally, NASA indicated that those pits or caverns might provide some protection from micrometeorites, solar radiation, and cosmic rays.

According to NASA, researchers used computer modelling to examine the thermal characteristics of the rock and lunar dust and comprehend how the pit’s temperatures changed over time.

According to the results, the temperature changes within the permanently shaded portions of the pit are minimal during the lunar day. It continues to be about 63 F. (or 17 C).

It means the a nearside pit crater in the Moon’s Sea of Tranquility is with room temperatures. The room temperature is identified as around 68–72 F (20–22 C) or in some cases 68 F (20 C). As quoted by the NASA website, Tyler Horvath, who is a doctoral student in planetary science at the University of California, Los Angeles, said, ‘About 16 of the more than 200 pits are probably collapsed lava tubes.’ Horvath led the new research, recently published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

At the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, LRO Project Scientist Noah Petro noted, ‘Lunar pits are a fascinating feature on the lunar surface. Knowing that they create a stable thermal environment helps us paint a picture of these unique lunar features and the prospect of one day exploring them.’

‘Humans evolved living in caves, and to caves we might return when we live on the Moon,’ said David Paige, a co-author of the paper who leads the Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment aboard LRO that made the temperature measurements used in the study.