Posts

Showing posts with the label Lava

NASA's LRO Spacecraft Detects Promising Room Temperature Moon Lava Holes

The near side of Earth’s Moon, as seen using data from the camera aboard the Lunar robot. owned by NASA … [+] Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft. Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Arizona State University NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance orbiter (LRO) has discovered a crater hole near the Moon’s Sea of ​​Tranquility at room temperature. An LRO onboard thermal imager found that a 328-foot depression about the length and width of a football field had overshadowed an area that maintained a constant, cool temperature of around 63 degrees Fahrenheit. The hope is that future astronauts will be able to use such a hole as a shelter from the extreme temperatures of the lunar surface that can fluctuate between 260 degrees Fahrenheit on lunar days and cold to minus 280 degrees Fahrenheit on lunar nights. First discovered on the Moon in 2009, such holes, subsurface lava tunnels, and caves can also offer protection from cosmic rays, solar radiation, and micrometeorites, NASA said. “Abou

Hawaiian Lava Caves Are Full of 'Dark Matter' Bacteria

Image
Hawaii’s volcanic environment contains a mysterious variety of microbes, new research has discovered this week. Scientists say that the island’s lava caves and other structures created by volcanic activity have unique, diverse, and still-living bacterial communities within them. The findings suggest that much remains to be learned about life in some of the most extreme conditions on Earth. Researchers at several universities and NASA collaborated for the study, which was published Thursday in Frontiers in Microbiology. They studied samples collected from 70 sites along the Big Island of Hawaii, the largest island in the Hawaiian archipelago. These sites include caves, tubes, and fumaroles, which are openings or vents through which volcanic gases and water can escape. They analyzed and sequenced the RNA found in the samples, making it possible to create a rough map of the bacterial community living there. Stalactite formations in the Hawaiian cave system from this study with co