Scientists: Lava tubes will help humanity conquer the Moon and Mars

The Umm Jarsan lava tube, located deep in a volcanic field in Saudi Arabia, was a safe haven for people in ancient times.

In a dungeon extending 1,481 meters, archaeologists discovered many artifacts, remains and other traces of a large-scale settlement that existed here more than 7 or even 10 thousand years ago. This was reported by the magazine PLOS One, citing the ScienceAlert portal.

This discovery, the first of its kind, testifies that lava tubes served as a shelter for our distant ancestors.

Lava tubes form during volcanic eruptions and consist of flows of molten rock, which solidify at the top. The main volume of lava continues to move, leaving behind empty spaces in the form of extended tunnels.

Lava tubes are found on Earth in places of past and ongoing volcanic activity. They are, for example, found in Hawaii, Iceland, Australia, Sicily, the Galapagos Islands and the Canary Islands.

The lava tubes are about 30 meters in diameter. Some of them extend for tens of kilometers. In the Galapagos Islands, one of them is 65 kilometers long.

The descendants seriously intend to benefit from the experience of their ancestors, that is, they plan to return to the lava tubes. And not only on Earth, but also on the Moon or Mars. Cavities formed here have also already been discovered as a result of long-term volcanic activity.

Also on the Moon, where gravity is only one-sixth that of Earth, a lava tube can reach one kilometer in diameter. It is hundreds of kilometers long. These basements are protected from solar radiation, cosmic rays, and temperature fluctuations.

Holes inside lunar lava tubes that were previously made by large meteorites were photographed by NASA's US lunar orbiter LRO. Thermal imaging devices were then used. The scientists simulated the conditions inside on a computer. It turns out that the temperature there does not change whether on hot lunar days or cold lunar nights, which last about 15 Earth days.

As for Martian lava tubes, they are larger than those on Earth and smaller than those on the Moon, but they are still huge, with a diameter of about 200-300 meters. Several years ago, Italian astrophysicists from the Universities of Padua and Bologna came up with the idea of ​​establishing settlements there.

Researchers say an entire city could be hidden in a single lava tube.

“In the distant past, caves served as shelter for our distant ancestors who lived on Earth,” says scientist David Page, who studies extraterrestrial lava tubes. “Nowadays, humans may have to go down this path again to become cave dwellers, but Other planets and at a different technological level, of course.”