Thursday, August 6, 2020

Lava tubes

When it comes to it, and with respect to Robert Zubrin, much Martian (and Lunar) settlement will be in lavatubes. Some talk about these has been going on for years now, although this blog hasn't noted instances yet. So here is the latest: Francesco Sauro, Matteo Massironi, Riccardo Pozzobon, Jo De Waele, and two other Italians not interviewed. doi 10.1016/j.earscirev.2020.103288.

Life here will be night life - VERY cold, at these pressures. However with internal pressurisation, the low external pressure would insulate the bases.

If the entries to the lavatubes are punched in by meteors, as seems the case on the Moon, the colonists've also got some ores to process. If they're lucky: purely metallic and precious ores.

Venus is volcanic and will have lavatubes as well. Not all the volcanoes are active. Here, insulation is more for keeping the outside air from coming in. Solid cylindrical rock should protect from implosion as from explosion. But I am more reluctant to recommend colonies down there; I don't think these volcanoes rise far enough above the supercritical surface. Getting simple electronics to the mountains of Maxwell is taxing our thoughts.

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