Scientists turn huge cave in southwest China into lunar research facility

Researchers want to know if volcanic lava tubes could support a moon base and they are looking for answers deep below ground on Earth

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A conceptual image of the proposed lunar base inside a lava tube cave that could one day provide suitable living conditions for humans. Photo: Handout

Published: 6:00am, 6 Dec 2024Updated: 9:53am, 6 Dec 2024

Attendees at China’s first international conference on space habitation and exploitation were given a tour of a vast underground cave system that Chinese researchers are hoping to use as a testing ground for living on the moon and Mars.

Xie Gengxin, from the Centre of Space Exploration at Chongqing University in southwestern China, organised the visit to Youyang Base, where large-scale closed cave ecosystem validation research is under way.

The Youyang cave system spans about 3,000 metres (9,840 feet), with the widest section measuring 130 metres (427 feet) and its highest point reaching 108 metres (354 feet).

“Earth’s caves provide an excellent simulation of lunar lava tubes in terms of internal structure, natural environment, and isolation from the external world,” said Xie, in an interview with the South China Morning Post on Wednesday.

Xie and his team first proposed in 2019 that the moon’s hollow, tubelike caves, formed by volcanic activity, might be suitable for human habitation and suggested that the environment could be simulated using natural underground spaces on Earth.

The proposal followed that year’s successful germination of cotton seeds on the moon’s far side, as part of the Chang’e 4 lunar landing mission.