Work

Effects of layered roof for stability and exploration of lunar lava tubes

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: Lunar lava tubes, of which possible existence as tunnel-like structures has been anticipated, may serve as shelters for future exploratory missions and places for groundbreaking scientific research. One major issue in planning exploratory missions is the lack of realistic safety assessment. We introduce evident layering of lunar collapse pits walls to model their stability and applied a recently proposed probabilistic approach to account for their unknown shapes. We demonstrate a dominance of local collapses that do not reach the lunar surface for layered roofs. Our results suggest that pristine peleoregolith layers may be exposed inside lunar lava tubes due to the common occurrence of such local collapses, which can yield unique geological/astrophysical recordings from previous epochs. We demonstrate that multiple local collapses may also explain the observable geometries of lunar collapse pits, leading to improvement of the overall stability of the post-collapse lava tube configuration.

Source: Earth and Planetary Science Letters

DOI: 10.1016/j.epsl.2024.118918

Authors: Marcin Chwała, Goro Komatsu, Junichi Haruyama

Institutions: Wrocław University of Science and Technology, University of Chieti-Pescara, International Research School of Planetary Sciences, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Institute of Space and Astronautical Science

Language: English

Topic: Planetary Science and Exploration

Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $4,290

Funders: Narodowe Centrum Nauki, Narodowym Centrum Nauki