Detection of Intact Lava Tubes at Marius Hills on the Moon by SELENE (Kaguya) Lunar Radar Sounder

Intact lunar lava tubes offer a pristine environment to conduct scientific examination of the Moon's composition and potentially serve as secure shelters for humans and instruments. We investigated the SELENE Lunar Radar Sounder (LRS) data at locations close to the Marius Hills Hole (MHH), a skylight potentially leading to an intact lava tube, and found a distinctive echo pattern exhibiting a precipitous decrease in echo power, subsequently followed by a large second echo peak that may be evidence for the existence of a lava tube. The search area was further expanded to 13.00–15.00°N, 301.85–304.01°E around the MHH, and similar LRS echo patterns were observed at several locations. Most of the locations are in regions of underground mass deficit suggested by GRAIL gravity data analysis. Some of the observed echo patterns are along rille A, where the MHH was discovered, or on the southwest underground extension of the rille. Key Points A distinctive echo pattern was found in the LRS data obtained around the Marius Hills Hole (MHH), a possible skylight of a lava tube Around an area (13.00–15.00°N, 301.85–304.01°E) around MHH, similar LRS echo patterns were found at several locations The locations exhibiting the echo pattern are consistent with mass deficits suggested by the GRAIL gravity data analysis