A miniature device that scans deep below ground is being developed to identify ice deposits and hollow lava tubes on the moon for possible human settlement.
Space Exploration
Jul 23, 2021
2
7
Imagine trying to pick up a pebble or scrape microbes off a cave wall in a bulky spacesuit with puffy gloves on, under a time constraint because you don't want to run out of oxygen. That's what the analog astronauts do daily ...
Space Exploration
Apr 28, 2021
1
2263
University of Arizona researcher Jekan Thanga is taking scientific inspiration from an unlikely source: the biblical tale of Noah's Ark. Rather than two of every animal, however, his solar-powered ark on the moon would store ...
Space Exploration
Mar 9, 2021
5
880
Scientists striving to understand how and when volcanoes might erupt face a challenge: many of the processes take place deep underground in lava tubes churning with dangerous molten Earth. Upon eruption, any subterranean ...
Earth Sciences
Dec 4, 2020
0
144
For more than 10,000 years, the people who lived on the arid landscape of modern-day western New Mexico were renowned for their complex societies, unique architecture and early economic and political systems. But surviving ...
Earth Sciences
Nov 18, 2020
0
9880
The international journal Earth-Science Reviews published a paper offering an overview of lava tubes (pyroducts) on Earth, eventually providing an estimate of the (greater) size of their lunar and Martian counterparts.
Space Exploration
Aug 5, 2020
1
502
When magma comes out of the Earth onto the surface, it flows as lava. Those lava flows are fascinating to watch, and they leave behind some unique landforms and rocks. But a lot of what's fascinating about these flows can ...
Space Exploration
Jul 13, 2020
34
794
In 2017, Purdue University researchers helped discover a lava tube on the moon that could protect astronauts from hazardous conditions on the surface. Now, 3-D image reconstructions of lava tubes on Earth could help assess ...
Earth Sciences
Jul 17, 2019
2
32
The mystery behind lunar swirls, one of the solar system's most beautiful optical anomalies, may finally be solved thanks to a joint Rutgers University and University of California Berkeley study.
Space Exploration
Sep 6, 2018
78
135
A Hawaii volcano is threatening to blow its top in coming days or weeks after sputtering lava for a week, forcing about 2,000 people to evacuate, destroying two dozen homes and threatening a geothermal plant.
Environment
May 11, 2018
1
19
