Gareth Morgan

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NASA selects GIMLI mission to explore Moon's Marius Hills Pit for lava tube

Co-leading GIMLI science operations

NASA named GIMLI on 30 September 2026 as one of three instrument suites funded through PRISM, its program for putting science payloads on commercial lunar landers. The mission will carry ground-penetrating radar, seismic sensors, a gravimeter and cameras to the Marius Hills Pit, a 65-by-90-meter opening in lunar volcanic terrain. No launch date or lander company has been announced.

Updated Oct 24

Notable Quotes

Confirming a substantial lava tube would give us an insight into how volcanism operated on the Moon.

from NASA selects GIMLI mission to explore Moon's Marius Hills Pit for lava tube · Updated Oct 24

Readers should not conclude that the pit is an opening to a lava tube.

from NASA selects GIMLI mission to explore Moon's Marius Hills Pit for lava tube · Updated Oct 24

Sometimes they are skylights into lava tubes, but in other cases they are isolated shafts/cavities caused by volcanic-tectonic activity.

from NASA selects GIMLI mission to explore Moon's Marius Hills Pit for lava tube · Updated Oct 24

If we don't find evidence of a cave system at our Marius Hills landing site, our measurements will still allow us to test alternative hypotheses for lunar pit formation, which in turn will provide new insights into volcanic activity, such as localized volcanic-tectonic processes.

from NASA selects GIMLI mission to explore Moon's Marius Hills Pit for lava tube · Updated Oct 24