NASA scientists have discovered cave on the moonon which a base could be created for people to stay.

It is at least 100 meters deep and is the perfect place for people to build a permanent base, according to the BBC.

It is just one of perhaps hundreds of hidden caves “in a subterranean world, as yet undiscovered,” according to scholars.

Countries are competing to establish a permanent human presence on the Moon, but must protect astronauts from radiation, extreme temperatures and space weather.

Helen Sharman, the first British astronaut to travel in space, told BBC News that the newly discovered cave looks like a good place for a base. He added that potentially humans could live in pits on the Moon for 20 to 30 years.

Lorenzo Bruzzone and Leonardo Carrer at the University of Trento in Italy found the cave using a radar to locate the opening of the pit in a rocky plain called Mare Tranquillitatis. It is visible to the naked eye and is also where Apollo 11 landed in 1969.

The ceiling of the cave is on the surface of the Moon, followed by vertical walls and an inclined floor that may extend even further.

The cave was formed millions or billions of years ago when lava flowed on the Moon, creating tunnels through the rocks.

The closest equivalent on Earth would be the volcanic caves in Lanzarote, Spain, explains Professor Carrer, adding that the researchers visited these caves as part of their work.

Life on Earth began in caves because not on the Moon

“It’s really exciting. When you make these discoveries and look at these images, you realize that you are the first person in human history to see this,” said Professor Carrer.
Once Professor Bruzzone and Professor Carrer realized how big the cave was, they realized it could be a good spot for a lunar base.

“After all, life on Earth began in caves, so it makes sense that humans could live in them on the Moon,” says Professor Carrer.

The moon cave may be useful to humans, but scientists also stress that it could help answer fundamental questions about the history of the moon and even our solar system.