NASA-backed GIMLI project to probe Marius Hills Pit on the Moon for a lava tube

Mixed · 2NASA has selected a project called Geophysical Instruments for Marius Lunar Pit Investigation (GIMLI) to investigate the Marius Hills Pit, a large hole on the Moon, and determine whether it leads to an underground cave. 1 2 Mixed · 2The Planetary Science Institute (PSI) leads the project, which will use ground-penetrating radar, seismic sensors and a gravimeter, with cameras to image the surface and the pit walls. 2 1 Left · 1Metro reports that the instruments and robots are built by Honeybee Robotics and that the project is carried out in partnership with the Norwegian Space Agency; the wider team includes co-investigators from Boise State University, Johns Hopkins University, the Lunar and Planetary Institute and the University of Oslo. 2

Mixed · 2Scientists say such a cave could one day shelter astronauts from radiation and the extreme temperature swings on the lunar surface. 2 1 Right · 1The Daily Mail says the pit is about as deep as a 10-story building is tall, with an opening roughly the size of an American football field; it is one of about 300 pits identified on the Moon and was found by Japan's SELENE spacecraft in 2009. 1 Mixed · 2PSI's Than Putzig said he wanted to reintroduce active-source seismic methods, essentially unused since the Apollo astronauts' seismic surveys, and anticipates detecting a lava tube extending away from the pit. 2 1

Mixed · 2Both outlets say the work has scientific value even if no cave is found, because the pit walls expose layers of regolith and lava flows that could show how lava moved across the Moon and whether eruptions were separated by long intervals. 2 1 Mixed · 2PSI senior scientist Gareth Morgan, the deputy principal investigator, said confirming a substantial lava tube would give insight into how volcanism operated on the Moon, and that Earth's lava tubes could help interpret lunar history. 1 2 Right · 1The Daily Mail adds that radiation on the lunar surface is roughly 2.6 times higher than on the International Space Station, and places the project in the context of NASA's plan to land astronauts during the Artemis IV mission in 2028, when two astronauts would spend about a week near the lunar South Pole. 1

Left · 1Whether a lava tube exists beneath the pit remains unconfirmed; the coverage describes the search as an investigation, not a finding. 2