NASA Just Identified 13 Possible Landing Locations For Artemis III
NASA has been making progress recently as they work towards returning humans to the surface of the Moon. Right now they are about to launch the Space Launch System for the first time in preparation for future missions such as Artemis II and III. However, while this work is being done, the agency is also narrowing down the options for the future landing locations.
The Moon is quite big and offers a large host of landing options with different benefits and downsides. Recently, the agency identified 13 candidate landing regions near the lunar South Pole. Each region contains multiple potential landing sites for Artemis III, which will be the first of the Artemis missions to bring crew to the lunar surface.
Because NASA not only wants to put humans back on the surface but set up a more permanent human presence, the location where they land will have a lot of significance in the future of space exploration and missions to the Moon. Here I will go more in-depth into NASA’s recent report, what these locations offer, and why the agency is so focused on this specific part of the Moon.
13 Landing Locations
For quite a while now, NASA has been working on determining where to land the future Artemis missions. Only a few days ago, the agency announced they had identified 13 candidate landing regions near the lunar South Pole. “Selecting these regions means we are one giant leap closer to returning humans to the Moon for the first time since Apollo,” said Mark Kirasich, deputy associate administrator for the Artemis Campaign Development Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “When we do, it will be unlike any mission that’s come before as astronauts venture into dark areas previously unexplored by humans and lay the groundwork for future long-term stays.” In total there are 13 locations which are depicted in a graphic provided by the agency.
Each of these regions is located within six degrees of latitude of the lunar South Pole and, collectively, contain diverse geologic features. Together, the regions provide landing options for all potential Artemis III launch opportunities. Specific landing sites are tightly coupled to the timing of the launch window, so multiple regions ensure flexibility to launch throughout the year. In order to select the regions, an agency-wide team of scientists and engineers assessed the area near the lunar South Pole using data from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and decades of publications and lunar science findings. In addition to considering launch window availability, the team evaluated regions based on their ability to accommodate a safe landing, using criteria including terrain slope, ease of communications with Earth, and lighting conditions. To determine accessibility, the team also considered combined capabilities of the Space Launch System rocket, the Orion spacecraft, and the SpaceX-provided Starship human landing system.
The agency highlights that all regions considered are scientifically significant because of their proximity to the lunar South Pole, which is an area that contains permanently shadowed regions rich in resources and in terrain unexplored by humans. “Several of the proposed sites within the regions are located among some of the oldest parts of the Moon, and together with the permanently shadowed regions, provide the opportunity to learn about the history of the Moon through previously unstudied lunar materials,” said Sarah Noble, Artemis lunar science lead for NASA’s Planetary Science Division. The analysis team weighed other landing criteria with specific Artemis III science objectives, including the goal to land close enough to a permanently shadowed region to allow crew to conduct a moonwalk, while limiting disturbance when landing. This will allow crew to collect samples and conduct scientific analysis in an uncompromised area, yielding important information about the depth, distribution, and composition of water ice that was confirmed at the Moon’s South Pole.
The team identified regions that can fulfill the moonwalk objective by ensuring proximity to permanently shadowed regions, and also factored in other lighting conditions. All 13 regions contain sites that provide continuous access to sunlight throughout a 6.5-day period – the planned duration of the Artemis III surface mission. As you can imagine, access to sunlight is critical for a long-term stay at the Moon because it provides a power source and minimizes temperature variations. “Developing a blueprint for exploring the solar system means learning how to use resources that are available to us while also preserving their scientific integrity”, said Jacob Bleacher, chief exploration scientist for NASA. “Lunar water ice is valuable from a scientific perspective and also as a resource, because from it we can extract oxygen and hydrogen for life support systems and fuel.”
NASA will discuss the 13 regions with broader science and engineering communities through conferences and workshops to solicit input about the merits of each region. This feedback will inform site selections in the future, and NASA may identify additional regions for consideration. The agency will also continue to work with SpaceX to confirm Starship’s landing capabilities and assess the options accordingly. NASA will select sites within regions for Artemis III after it identifies the mission’s target launch dates, which dictate transfer trajectories and surface environment conditions.
Why The South Pole?
It’s clear that NASA is set on the south pole of the Moon, however, after looking at the opportunities it presents it becomes more obvious. The first has to do with lighting and terrain. At the lunar South Pole, the Sun hovers below or just above the horizon, creating temperatures upwards of 130°F (54°C) during sunlit periods. Even during these periods of illumination, soaring mountains cast dark shadows and deep craters protect perpetual darkness in their abysses. Some of these craters are home to permanently shadowed regions that haven’t seen sunlight in billions of years and experience temperatures as low as -334°F (-203°C). Even using advanced sensors, the combination of terrain and lighting conditions will make it difficult to tell what the ground looks like from a vehicle descending to the lunar South Pole, and some systems may be vulnerable to rising and plummeting temperatures.
Astronauts descending to the lunar surface will be able to manually take control of a lander’s onboard automated guidance system if necessary, as Neil Armstrong did when the Eagle’s guidance system steered them four miles off course, heading toward a field of boulders. Armstrong had a clear, sunlit view of the Moon below, but Artemis astronauts will have a disrupted view, with long dark shadows hiding important terrain features. To help them navigate, they will have the advantage of preloaded maps providing topographic details from robotic missions like the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) along with advanced training using technology not available to Apollo crews.
Not only is the terrain and lighting important but also the opportunity for discovery. NASA points out that breakthrough discoveries from robotic missions like LRO, the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, and the SOFIA flying observatory have confirmed that the Moon is not a bone-dry, dormant world. NASA’s Artemis I flight test will deploy two CubeSats to advance the search for lunar resources, and a water-hunting rover, VIPER, will be the first resource-mapping mission on another planetary body. Beyond robots, human exploration of this previously unexplored area of the Moon introduces a unique opportunity for scientific discovery. Artemis crews will conduct field geology, deploy instruments, and collect samples that will help us understand planetary processes and the character and origin of lunar polar volatiles. Volatiles are chemical elements or compounds in a solid state that melt or vaporize at moderately warm temperatures. An ice cube is an example of a chemical compound volatile. It is made up of two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen, and it begins to melt when exposed to temperatures above 32°F (0°C). At water’s boiling point, it begins to vaporize. The permanently shadowed regions near the poles act as traps for an array of volatiles, with each melting and vaporizing at different temperatures.
“Lunar volatiles are likely trapped in permanently shadowed regions of the Moon, and those volatiles have a story to tell us about the history of the solar system,” said Jake Bleacher, NASA’s Chief Exploration Scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “The ability to extract deep core samples and maintain their temperature and vacuum properties all the way back to research facilities on Earth could lead to powerful discoveries—not only about the volatiles, but also about the history of our solar system.”
Conclusion
If everything goes according to plan, the Space Launch System will launch for the first time in only a week from now. As NASA continues to make progress on returning humans to the surface, the agency has narrowed down some of the landing options. We will have to wait and see how it progresses and the impact it has on the space industry.