Moon Detective! NASA Picks a Mission to Explore a Giant Hole on the Moon
Quick Summary
NASA has chosen a team of scientists to investigate a mysterious pit on the Moon’s surface. The hole might be a doorway to a giant underground cave. If a cave really is down there, it could one day become a cozy home base for future astronauts!
What Happened?
On the Moon, in a region called the Marius Hills, there is a strange hole in the ground. It is about as wide as a football field — roughly 65 by 90 meters across. Scientists have spotted it from space for years, but nobody has ever explored it up close. Now, NASA has picked a project called GIMLI to go and find out what is hiding below.
GIMLI stands for Geophysical Instruments for Marius Lunar pit Investigation. That is a long name, but the job is simple to understand: figure out if a big cave stretches underground from that pit.
The team will send a lander and a small rover to the edge of the pit. The rover will use three cool tools to look deep underground without actually going in:
- Radar — like the radar at an airport, but pointed down into the ground to bounce signals off hidden walls
- Seismic sensors — tiny instruments that feel vibrations in the ground, the way your hand feels music thumping through a table
- Gravity measurements — special tools that can detect if there is empty space underground, because an empty cave pulls on a gravity sensor differently than solid rock does
This will be the first time scientists have ever done this kind of underground check on the Moon’s surface. Before GIMLI, all the studying was done from far above in orbit.
The pit is about 34 meters deep — close to the height of a 10-story building. But the cave below it could be much, much bigger. Scientists believe lava flowed through the Moon billions of years ago and carved out huge underground tunnels. The pit may be like a skylight — a place where the ceiling of one of those tunnels collapsed.
Why Does It Matter?
The Moon’s surface is a tough place to live. During the day, temperatures can reach 250°F (hotter than a kitchen oven). At night, they plunge to -280°F (colder than Antarctica by a huge amount). The Moon also has no atmosphere to block radiation from the Sun. But underground? A cave would stay at a much steadier temperature and shield astronauts from harmful radiation. If GIMLI confirms that a big cave is there, it could become the perfect spot for a future Moon base — a natural shelter that took billions of years to form.
Big Words
- Lava tube — a long underground tunnel left behind when lava flows on the inside but the outer shell hardens and cools, like a hollow pipe of rock
- Radar — a technology that sends out invisible waves and listens for the echo they make when they bounce off something
- Seismic — related to vibrations that travel through rock and soil
- Radiation — energy rays from the Sun and space that can be harmful to living things without protection
Fun Fact
The GIMLI instruments will perform the first intentional active-source seismic survey on the Moon since the Apollo missions more than 50 years ago. Back then, Apollo astronauts set off small explosions to study Moon vibrations!
Think About It
If you were designing a Moon base inside an underground cave, what three things would you want to make sure to bring from Earth?
Sources
- Planetary Science Institute / ScienceDaily — This mysterious hole on the Moon may open into a giant cave (NASA PRISM selection)
- Gadget Review — NASA Wants to Explore a Giant Hole on the Moon
- SciBeat — NASA Picks PSI-Led GIMLI Mission to Probe Cave Beneath Lunar Pit
- Orbital Radar — NASA Eyes Marius Lunar Pit for Future Base (Oct. 8, 2026)