Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

A pit crater, created by an empty lava tube, has been studied in Mars’ Arsia Mons region.

Using imagery captured in August 2020 by the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, or HiRISE camera onboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, researchers appraise the pit at being about 150 feet (50 meters) across.

On patrol – NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

That measurement suggests it’s likely that the underground tube is also at least this big – much bigger than similar caves on Earth.

The use of lava tubes on Mars as emergency shelters and storage has been advanced in the past. Lava tubes are formed from fast moving lava which later cools and forms roomy caves that might serve various functions for future human expeditions to the Red Planet.

European Space Agency (ESA) astronauts training in terrestrial lava tubes located on Spain’s Canary Island of Lanzarote.
Credit: L. Ricci/ESA

Detailed measurements

Meanwhile, data gleaned by a Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) on NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover at Gale Crater has found a reduction in radiation when the rover was parked next to a butte on the Red Planet.

From B. Ehresmann, D. M. Hassler, et al. “Natural Radiation Shielding on Mars Measured With the MSL/RAD Instrument”

Designed by the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in Boulder, Colorado, RAD has been yielding detailed measurements of the radiation environment on the surface of Mars since Curiosity landed in August 2012.

“We will send astronauts to Mars, and when we do, protecting them from the environment is part of NASA’s responsibility,” said Don Hassler, RAD principal investigator and science program director at SwRI, as reported by the Boulder Daily Camera.

Hassler adds that fully understanding the radiation profile of Mars also raises the potential of fabricating astronaut shelters in lava tubes.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Caltech

Radiation Assessment Detector is also known as RAD.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI

For more information on the new RAD findings, go to “Natural Radiation Shielding on Mars Measured With the MSL/RAD Instrument” led by B. Ehresmann at:

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2021JE006851