Space & Astronomy

NASA wants to explore a mysterious hole in bid to find lunar cave system

By T.K. Randall
October 10, 2026

Image: Full Moon
Credit: Gregory H. Revera / CC BY-SA 3.0 (adapted) Like an opening into a hidden lunar world, the hole - known as the Marius Hills Pit - has long enticed scientists ever since Japan's Kaguya (SELENE) lunar orbiter first discovered it in 2009.

From orbit, it is possible to see some of the way down into the hole, revealing what could be the entrance to a large underground cave, or even an entire subterranean cave system.

Such an environment is clearly ripe for exploration and if there really is a cave down there, it could offer an ideal location for a manned base on the Moon, not least because it would help to shield the astronauts from some of the radiation they would otherwise be exposed to on the surface.Now, in a renewed bid to investigate the hole, NASA has backed a new project - the Geophysical Instruments for Marius Lunar Pit Investigation (GIMLI) - that will combine ground-penetrating radar with seismic and gravitational sensors to find out what's down there.

"It's long been a desire of mine to reintroduce intentional active-source seismic methods to planetary science, as it has essentially not been done since the Apollo astronauts conducted the first seismic surveys on the moon," said Than Putzig, director of NASA's Planetary Science Institute (PSI).

"Combining that method with ground-penetrating radar and gravity measurements makes it all the more exciting, as these methods together will allow us to get a much better understanding of subsurface properties, including the anticipated detection of a lava tube extending away from the Marius Hills Pit."

Source: Mail Online

Tags: Moon