Could Earthly Lava Structures Help Us Colonize Space?

Tunnels made from lava flows in Hawaii and Iceland are being studied by researchers in fields from geology to astrobiology. Learn how these lava tubes could help us explore space and even find extraterrestrial life in this episode of BrainStuff.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Brainstuff production of I Heart Radio, Hey brain
Stuff Lauren vocal bamb here. Ever, since Neil Armstrong first
set foot on the Moon, scientists have been toyed with
the idea of forming potential colonies there and more recently
on Mars too. But extreme fluctuating temperatures, cosmic radiation and
micro meteorite showers colloquially known as space dust pose challenges

(00:24):
to human excavation of both the Moon and Mars. However,
astrobiologists are in the process of exploring nifty geological structures
that could serve as natural shelter from these harsh elements.
Lava tubes. So what are lava tubes? We spoke via
email with Dr Ricardo Pozibon of the Department of Geosciences
at the University of Padova. He's been at the forefront

(00:46):
of European research on lava tubes. He explained. Lava tubes
are caves that are carved by flowing lava that's eventually
drained out, leaving a subsurface void. Although there are different
types of lava tube formations, these caves often form out
of a type of fluid basaltic lava that flows down
a slope like the side of a volcano. As the

(01:06):
outermost portion of the hot lava flow comes in contact
with the cold air, it cools rapidly, forming a hardened crust,
but liquid lava continues to flow like water in a
channel underneath this newly hardened surface. At some point that
liquid lava runs out and cools underneath the surface, forming
a curvy tube shaped structure, and thus a lava tube

(01:27):
is born. Geologists no lava tubes from volcanic areas in
Hawaii or Iceland, but they've also become a hot commodity
within the astrobiology community due to high resolution images indicating
that lava tubes may exist on the Moon and Mars
as well. Many sites thought to be lava tubes are
detected by the presence of these curvy channels, and more recently,
the Setty Institute announced the discovery of possible skylights or

(01:49):
lava tube openings in a crater near the north pole
of the Moon, using images obtained from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance orbiter.
But lava tubes are a tricky business. Scientific technology is
still playing catchup and identifying these underground habitats. We also
spoke by email with Leonardo Career of the Remote Sensing
Laboratory at the University of Trento. He said the main

(02:10):
difficulty comes from the fact that lava tubes are essentially
subsurface structures. Very few instruments are capable of performing direct
measurements of underground structures. The Careers team is working to
modernize the technology and thus aid future human settlement of
these lunar caves. The technology involves using radar which can
detect lava tubes from orbit based on their unique electromagnetic signatures. Basically,

(02:33):
they can probe below the surface of the Moon using
low frequency electromagnetic waves and then measure the reflected waves
that come back to them. Those reflections offer insight into
a lava tube's characteristics, like its shape, size, and composition.
But one thing is clear, lava tubes on the Moon
and Mars are invaluable as natural potential habitats, or at

(02:53):
the very least could serve as convenient storage units between
space missions. Meanwhile, back on Earth, scientists are preparing for
future missions to the Moon and Mars through a little
cave diving. The European Space Agency developed a program called
Pangaea that prepares European astronauts to explore other planets. One
of its projects concerns a lava tube in Spain called

(03:14):
Corona that's eight kilometers long or about five miles. The
team has undertaken advanced mapping of the tube to create
a three D model that's accurate down to the millimeter.
They've also been testing out new robots or rovers to
identify how best to navigate these tubes, developing a greater
understanding of the challenges associated with incursions into lava tubes
on other planets in the process. Other researchers have also

(03:37):
taken an interest in exploring the microbiology of lava tubes
by focusing their efforts on the Lava Beds National Monument
in California. This project, funded by the Canadian Space Agency,
is looking to explore lava tubes as habitats of micro organisms,
which may leave traces behind through certain minerals and thus
indicate the presence of life once upon a time, which
is cool enough on Earth, but would be an amazing

(03:59):
find on the Moon or Mars. So what's the difference
between lava tubes on Earth and their lunar and Martian counterparts? Well, gravity,
for one, The lower gravity on the Moon and Mars
seems to impact the size of lava tubes significantly. Tubes
on Mars can stretch for two hundred and fifty in
width or about eight hundred twenty feet, and tubes on
the Moon can reach a whopping kilometer or more across

(04:20):
that's about two thirds of a mile. The lower gravity
also stabilizes the roofs of these tubes and causes fewer collapses,
especially on the Moon, thereby creating a potentially safer dwelling
for human habitation. But otherwise, lava tubes on Earth are
fairly similar in composition and structure to those on the
Moon and Mars, and serves excellent reference points for researchers.

(04:42):
The potential for lunar caves and possible human settlements has
many people excited, even the White Houses making a bid
for Moon colonies in the near future, and the possibility
of answering whether life has existed or may still flourish
in caves on Mars is a tantalizing one for space explorers.
But if you're wondering whether or not Martians will be
found hey ing around these lava tubes on the Red planet,
the answer is likely no, unless you count microbial critters. Radiation,

(05:06):
a dry environment, and fridge and temperatures make the planet
inhospitable to most forms of life. While using ground rovers
to access lava tubes on the Moon and Mars could
be difficult due to surface conditions, other devices are being
developed to aid these explorations, including climbing and hopping pit
bots and flying helicopter like vehicles, likes of which may
appear in NASA's Mars rover mission. Today's episode was written

(05:33):
by Terra yr Lagata and produced by Tyler Clang. Rain
Stuff is a production of iHeart Radio's How Stuff Works.
For more on this and lots of other totally tubular topics,
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