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- Jun 12, 2018
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Caves that are off of lava tubes on the Moon might be as warm as 63F, 17C. The temperature was computed by taking thermal images of openings of collapsed lava tubes. The structure of the collapsed tube allows it to be shaded in the daytime so it doesn't get too hot and allows the collected heat to stay inside the cave at night. Based on Earth's physical characteristics, I would suspect that caves off of the lava tubes near the surface could be extensive. This would create a ready to live habitat which would just require sealing off the areas for airtight conditions. Something that shouldn't be too hard to do. The overhead surface would provide for radiation shielding. Light could be piped in from the surface. No one has mentioned water yet, but there could be water trapped in sealed caverns below the surface.
The Earth's surface temperature just below the surface, 12 to 40 feet, stays relatively constant throughout the year. Somewhere around 50 to 60 degrees F. 1,000 feet down the temperature is double that. There is disagreement about what happens to the temperature far below that level until you reach the core. Around the core it is around 9,000 F, 5,000C. The Moon has a hot solid/molten iron core, possibly getting some heat from radioactive decay, but it is suspected that it is not hot enough for that heat to reach the surface. Because the below near surface temperature is around 60F degrees, it appears to me to be some sort of geophysical feature created by the shape and location of the body in the solar system that accounts for the similarity.
The Earth's surface temperature just below the surface, 12 to 40 feet, stays relatively constant throughout the year. Somewhere around 50 to 60 degrees F. 1,000 feet down the temperature is double that. There is disagreement about what happens to the temperature far below that level until you reach the core. Around the core it is around 9,000 F, 5,000C. The Moon has a hot solid/molten iron core, possibly getting some heat from radioactive decay, but it is suspected that it is not hot enough for that heat to reach the surface. Because the below near surface temperature is around 60F degrees, it appears to me to be some sort of geophysical feature created by the shape and location of the body in the solar system that accounts for the similarity.
