On Sun, 22 Oct 2017, Greg (Strider) Moore wrote:
"William Elliot" wrote in message
On Fri, 20 Oct 2017, Fred J. McCall wrote:

The chasm, 50km (31 miles) long and 100 metres wide, appears
to be structurally sound and its rocks may contain ice or
water deposits that could be turned into fuel, according to
data sent back by the orbiter, nicknamed Kaguya after the
moon princess in a Japanese fairytale."
https://www.theguardian.com/science/...sation-of-moon

should send a rover to check it out
Rovers can't do spelunking. You'd have to send people.

Why? A rover could go in, take a look around and come back to
tell us what it saw.

And how do you navigate? Radio isn't going to work well, and while an
autonomous rover sounds like a good idea, they work best when we
already know the terrain.

Place a transmission station at the entrance.
That'll do until there's a bend.
So bring along a relay for each bend.
Otherwise, a cable connection would have to be laid as the rover roves.
Let's ask Comcast. :-)

In theory a lava tube should be relatively smooth on the inside except
for chunks that have fallen from the ceiling, there's no guarantee
what we know about lava tubes here on Earth cleanly translates to how
they'd form on the Moon, or how this particular one would form.

So, you really want to have someone on site. And once you do, you
might as well just use them to explore the tube.

On their own without outside communication?

And trust me, there's no shortage of cavers here on Earth that would
be willing to check out a lunar lava tube.

I'm probably a bit too old to go, but you know, I've got some time to
spare if NASA is willing to provide transportation.

How about lodging and supplies? Pack your own backpack?