38. Are there caves on the Moon? (A K2S Question)

From The Space Library

Scientists believe that there are caves on the Moon, but we really haven't seen any direct evidence of them. The long sinuous rilles are formed from collapsed lava tubes, which served as pipelines carrying fresh lava to the front lines of lava flows. As the Moon cooled and the lava shrank back down into the lunar interior, it left behind these tunnels, which usually collapsed under their own weight or were shocked by impacts. Some photographic evidence seems to point to some uncollapsed sections of rilles, and it's assumed that at some point the lava tunnel moved farther underground. Finding such a tunnel would be very important, as it could provide a great deal of pre-formed underground living space well protected from radiation.

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Answer provided by Thomas Matula, Ph.D. & Kenneth J. Murphy

Question and Answer extracted from the book Kids to Space - by Lonnie Schorer

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