NASA to send rover to investigate mysterious hole on the moon

NASA has selected a mission to investigate the Marius Hills pit, a hole on the Moon’s near side, using a rover equipped to scan the underground space.

The pit sits in the middle of a sinuous rille, which suggests it is a collapsed section of a lava tube roof, according to IFLScience. NASA said “the pit itself may have been caused by an impact that punched through the lava tube roof.”

The Planetary Science Institute-led proposal, called GIMLI, was chosen under NASA’s Payloads and Research Investigations on the Surface of the Moon program. It will use ground-penetrating radar, seismic sensors and a gravimeter, while cameras image the pit’s surface and walls. PSI is partnering with Blue Origin’s Honeybee Robotics to build the equipment, which must fit a Commercial Lunar Payloads Services lander and rover.

Such tubes could shelter future astronauts from radiation and extreme temperature swings. PSI’s Gareth Morgan said: “Confirming a substantial lava tube would give us an insight into how volcanism operated on the Moon.”