NASA has approved a mission to probe the Marius Hills Pit with seismometers, ground-penetrating radar and a gravimeter, to find out whether it opens into a vast lava-tube cave that could serve as a ready-made, radiation-shielded lunar base.
There is a dark spot on the Moon called the Marius Hills Pit, nearly 300 feet wide and about 150 feet deep. NASA has just approved sending instruments to find out what lies beneath it.
If it is a network of lava tubes from ancient flows, astronauts would have a ready-made shelter: radiation shielding and a refuge from extreme temperatures, a natural lunar base.
I cannot guess how many years separate drilling a hole from living in one, but the fact that the probe is called GIMLI does make me smile.
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