LOS ANGELES, Aug. 19, 2022 (Xinhua) — NASA announced Friday that it has selected 13 potential regions in the lunar south pole as potential future landing sites for its “Artemis 3” mission, a project aimed at sending astronauts to the moon in 2025.
“The selection of these regions means we are one giant step closer to returning humans to the moon for the first time since Apollo,” said Mark Keracic, deputy associate director of the Artemis campaign development division at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
NASA stated that each of these regions lies within six degrees of latitude from the south pole of the moon, an area where water ice is believed to be present in permanently shaded craters, and can provide continuous exposure to sunlight throughout the 6.5-day period, which is the duration Planned for the Artemis 3 surface mission.
The Apollo missions more than 50 years ago went to the tropics of the moon, where there are long stretches of daylight, for more than two weeks. Antarctica may only have a few days of light, making missions more challenging and reducing the window in which NASA can conduct a launch.
“Many of the proposed locations within the regions lie between some of the oldest parts of the moon, and along with the permanently shaded regions, provide the opportunity to learn about the history of the moon through Previously unstudied lunar materials.
Access to ice and sunlight resources is critical to a long-term stay on the Moon because this provides a source of energy and reduces temperature differences. And unlike the Apollo missions that ended in 1972, Artemis was designed to establish a permanent presence on and around the moon.
“Lunar water ice is valuable from a scientific perspective as well as as a resource, because from it we can extract oxygen and hydrogen for life-support systems and fuel,” said Jacob Bleacher, NASA’s chief exploration scientist.
NASA explained that the selected areas provide landing options for all possible launch opportunities for the “Artemis 3” mission, saying that “the selected landing sites are tightly coupled to the timing of the launch window, so multiple areas ensure flexibility for year-round launch.”
Furthermore, it stated that each of the selected areas was of scientific interest and was evaluated based on topography, communications and lighting conditions, as well as the ability to achieve scientific objectives.
Friday’s announcement came as NASA prepares for its first Artemis mission, which is currently scheduled after Aug. 29.
That flight, known as Artemis 1, will be the first launch of NASA’s massive Space Launch System rocket, sending an Orion crew capsule, without any astronauts on board, into lunar orbit for a 42-day mission.
The rocket and Orion spacecraft for the Artemis 1 mission arrived atop Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday.