If NASA's goal of sending a manned spacecraft to Mars within a couple of decades is met, it is possible that the first astronauts to set foot on the red planet will be housed in its caves . This is what Glen Cushing, a physicist at the United States Geological Survey, suggests, who by analyzing satellite images of the Martian surface has identified a series of caverns in the subsoil of the red planet . The tunnel system, hundreds of kilometers long, could serve as a refuge for astronauts visiting Mars in the future, and constitute a protected habitat for potential Martian microbes of the past or present, as explained by the researcher at a meeting of the American Geological Society.
The caves identified by Cushing were probably formed when lava generated in ancient volcanic eruptions cooled and solidified, covering Martian fissures and channels.
