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A roadmap for planetary caves science and exploration

Nature Astronomy volume 5, pages 524–525 (2021)Cite this article

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To the Editor — 2021 is the International Year of Caves and Karst. To honour this occasion, we wish to emphasize the vast potential embodied in planetary subsurfaces. While researchers have pondered the possibility of extraterrestrial caves for more than 50 years, we have now entered the incipient phase of planetary caves exploration. Caves are important because they provide records of a planetary body’s geological, meteorological and environmental history. On Mars, this may include evidence of past or even present microbial life. For the Moon and Mars, caves could protect human explorers from the harmful and inhospitable surface environment.

To systematically advance planetary caves exploration, we propose this roadmap composed of three conceptual phases: (1) identification (orbital assets), (2) characterization (surface operations) and (3) exploration (subsurface operations).

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Fig. 1: Planetary bodies are positioned within their respective research stage.

NASA / JPL-Caltech (images).

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Acknowledgements

Part of this research was conducted at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (80NM0018D0004). Images of planetary bodies were adapted from three-dimensional models available on NASA’s Solar System Exploration website. Satellite and rover silhouettes were rendered and modified from images of NASA’s Cassini and Perseverance spacecraft, respectively.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. US Geological Survey, Astrogeology Science Center, Flagstaff, AZ, USA

    Timothy N. Titus, Glen E. Cushing & Kaj E. Williams

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, USA

    J. Judson Wynne

  3. NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA

    Michael J. Malaska, Ali-akbar Agha-Mohammadi, James W. Ashley, Laura H. Kerber, Erin J. Leonard, Cynthia B. Phillips, Jennifer E. Scully & Kyle Uckert

  4. Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Peter B. Buhler, Thomas H. Prettyman & Norbert Schorghofer

  5. Earth & Environmental Sciences Department University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA

    E. Calvin Alexander

  6. Centro de Astrobiología, CSIC-INTA, Madrid, Spain

    Armando Azua-Bustos & Alberto G. Fairén

  7. Instituto de Ciencias Biomédicas, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Autónoma de Chile, Santiago, Chile

    Armando Azua-Bustos

  8. NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, USA

    Penelope J. Boston & Uland Y. Wong

  9. Planetary Exploration Group, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD, USA

    Debra L. Buczkowski

  10. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA

    Leroy Chiao

  11. Center for Mineral Resources Science, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO, USA

    John DeDecker

  12. Human Spaceflight Laboratory, Department of Space Studies, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND, USA

    Pablo de León, Gary L. Harris & Kavya Manyapu

  13. School of Geosciences, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA

    Cansu Demirel-Floyd

  14. Dipartimento di Scienze Biologiche, Geologiche e Ambientali, Università di Bologna, Bologna, Italy

    Jo De Waele & Francesco Sauro

  15. Department of Astronomy, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA

    Alberto G. Fairén

  16. Institute of Earth Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel

    Amos Frumkin

  17. Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Heather Jones & William L. Whittaker

  18. Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

    Richard J. Léveillé

  19. Geosciences Department, John Abbott College, Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec, Canada

    Richard J. Léveillé

  20. Dipartimento di Geoscienze, Università degli Studi di Padova, Padova, Italy

    Matteo Massironi

  21. Laboratório HERCULES, University of Évora, Évora, Portugal

    Ana Z. Miller

  22. Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Seville, Spain

    Ana Z. Miller

  23. Department of Geosciences, Mississippi State University, Starkville, MS, USA

    John E. Mylroie

  24. School of Geosciences, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA

    Bogdan P. Onac

  25. Emil G. Racoviță Institute, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

    Bogdan P. Onac

  26. Fluidity Technologies, Inc., Houston, TX, USA

    Scott Parazynski

  27. Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX, USA

    Charity M. Phillips-Lander

  28. Department of Earth and Space Science and Engineering, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Haley M. Sapers

  29. Astrobiology Research Group, Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Dirk Schulze-Makuch

  30. German Research Centre for Geosciences, Section Geomicrobiology, Potsdam, Germany

    Dirk Schulze-Makuch

  31. Department of Experimental Limnology, Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Stechlin, Germany

    Dirk Schulze-Makuch

  32. School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

    Robert V. Wagner

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  1. Timothy N. Titus
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  19. Gary L. Harris
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  32. Thomas H. Prettyman
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  34. Francesco Sauro
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  40. William L. Whittaker
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  42. Uland Y. Wong
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Contributions

T.N.T., J.J.W. and M.J.M. share senior authorship. A.A. and P.J.B. developed the robotics section, while P.B.B. assisted with figure development. All other authors contributed equally.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Timothy N. Titus, J. Judson Wynne or Michael J. Malaska.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Titus, T.N., Wynne, J.J., Malaska, M.J. et al. A roadmap for planetary caves science and exploration. Nat Astron 5, 524–525 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-021-01385-1

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