NASA Reveals The 'Dark Areas' It Wants Astronauts to Explore on The Moon
Posted: Wed Oct 05, 2022 4:35 pm
NASA Reveals The 'Dark Areas' It Wants Astronauts to Explore on The Moon
https://www.sciencealert.com/nasa-revea ... n-the-moon
If all goes well, in just a couple of short years humans will return to the Moon for the first time in over half a century.
As NASA gears up to send teams of people to the lunar south pole by December 2024, one of the big questions has been: where, precisely, will these astronauts land?
We now have a better idea, with NASA revealing 13 candidate landing regions for Artemis III; the mission that will finally carry that precious human cargo.
"Selecting these regions means we are one giant leap closer to returning humans to the Moon for the first time since Apollo," says Mark Kirasich of the Artemis Campaign Development Division at NASA.
"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."
Each of the 13 potential landing regions is within 6 degrees latitude of the lunar south pole, a significant target of future exploration. This is a region of the Moon that no one has ever landed, and poses a significantly greater technical challenge than landings based towards the equator. For this reason, two uncrewed stages of the Artemis mission – Artemis I and Artemis II – must succeed before humans can safely launch.
https://www.sciencealert.com/nasa-revea ... n-the-moon
If all goes well, in just a couple of short years humans will return to the Moon for the first time in over half a century.
As NASA gears up to send teams of people to the lunar south pole by December 2024, one of the big questions has been: where, precisely, will these astronauts land?
We now have a better idea, with NASA revealing 13 candidate landing regions for Artemis III; the mission that will finally carry that precious human cargo.
"Selecting these regions means we are one giant leap closer to returning humans to the Moon for the first time since Apollo," says Mark Kirasich of the Artemis Campaign Development Division at NASA.
"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."
Each of the 13 potential landing regions is within 6 degrees latitude of the lunar south pole, a significant target of future exploration. This is a region of the Moon that no one has ever landed, and poses a significantly greater technical challenge than landings based towards the equator. For this reason, two uncrewed stages of the Artemis mission – Artemis I and Artemis II – must succeed before humans can safely launch.