page_title: Caves of Mars Project
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Caves of Mars Project / Description
caption_attribution_description: English: This is a cropped version of a HiRISE image of a lava tube skylight on the martian volcano Pavonis Mons. The original caption for the photo on the HiRISE web site is as follows: Earlier this year, the CTX camera team saw a crater containing a dark spot on the dusty slopes of the Pavonis Mons volcano. We took a closer look at this feature with HiRISE and found this unusual geologic feature. The dark spot turned out to be a "skylight," an opening to an underground cavern, that is 35 meters (115 feet) across. Caves often form in volcanic regions like this when lava flows solidify on top, but keep flowing underneath their solid crust. These, now underground, rivers of lava can then drain away leaving the tube they flowed through empty. We can use the shadow cast on the floor of the pit to calculate that it is about 20 meters (65 feet) deep. The origin of the larger hole that this pit is within is still obscure. You can see areas where material on the walls has slid into the pit. How much of the missing material has disappeared via the pit into the underground cavern? Later this year, HiRISE will acquire a second image to create a stereo pair. Seeing this feature in stereo will help us unravel the mystery of its formation. Written by: Shane Byrne (17 August 2011)
context_page_description: The Caves of Mars Project was an early 2000s program funded through Phase II by the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts
  to assess the best place to situate the research and habitation modules that a human mission to Mars would require. The final report was published in mid 2004.
context_section_description: Caves and other underground structures, including Martian lava tubes, canyon overhangs, and other Martian cavities would be potentially useful for manned missions, for they would provide considerable shielding from both the elements and intense solar radiation to which a Mars mission would expose astronauts.  They might also offer access to minerals, gases, ices, and any subterranean life that the crew of such a mission would probably be searching for.
  The program also studied designs for inflatable modules and other such structures that would aid the astronauts to build a livable environment for humans and earth creatures.
caption: A HiRISE image of a lava tube skylight entrance on the Martian volcano Pavonis Mons.
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop Elements 9.0 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2012:07:17 22:48:27", "Image ExifOffset": "172", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "310", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "2547", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1920", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1920"}