Planetary_Tyler

So theoretically that would work, as long as the plexiglass is in the permanently shadowed reaches of the cave. If the air can pass over areas at the opening of the cave it may get too warm or too cold, not sure, but we just shouldnt worry about that haha.

Though what would be cool is as long as you have an airtight pressure suit and an oxygen source, you could wander the cave in a much smaller suit than what the Apollo astronauts did! No need for all the thermal insulation or radiation protection in the Moon caves!

I'm not supposed to say this, but one of the images taken with the satellite's normal cameras saw some keepers stalking around the opening. I'm not saying the Moon is a mass relay, but the Moon is a mass relay.

Overall Earth is definitely more habitable, but in terms of temperatures alone these caves would be the most consistently comfortable! On Earth you have temperature swings, and many places that are comfortable do experience temperatures that get too hot or too cold for humans to survive indefinitely without some sort of protection. These caves would stay 63 F or 17 C essentially forever.

I am definitely not saying its easier to live there, there are plenty of other challenges, but in terms of temperature it is nearly perfect!

I think theyre porous in the same way earthly basalts are, but I'm actually not too sure, I'm not much of a geologist haha. I dont think water has made it through the cracks and crannies of the moon caves if those exist, temperatures are too high and all water sublimates/evaporates away.

I think the inside of Moon caves would look similar to Earth Lava tubes, lava drips potentially coming off the ceiling and pahoehoe/a'a' along the bottom and sides. I cant be sure though, also not my expertise 😅

I used data from a thermal camera named Diviner orbiting the Moon aboard NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Using this camera I was able to measure the temperatures of the floor of a collapse pit believed to be an entrance to a lava tube and compared it to computer simulations of what temperatures at the floor of the pit would be. The results were that a pit with a cave, no matter the size, would elevate the temperatures of the pit floor to the level we measured.

Fun fact - the pit/opening we were studying was less than 20% the size of a single pixel of the thermal camera. It took a lot of work to try and tease out the temperatures of the pit floor itself..