9 Possible Landing Zones for NASA's Artemis III Mission

 

Credit NASA

December 14, 1972 was the last time a human set foot on the moon. But this is going to change with the Artemis III mission set to launch in 2026. Not only is this amazing to have humans back on the moon but with the Artemis III mission it will be the first time humans will set foot on the South Pole of the moon!

Of course to land on the moon NASA has been scouting out possible landing zones using data by the NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter that was analyzed by a team of scientists and engineers. A lot of factors come into play when searching for potential landing sites some of NASA’s factors include science potential, launch window availability, terrain suitability, lighting conditions and of course the capability to communicate with Earth.

The Lunar South Pole is vastly different from the landing zones of the Apollo missions. Due to the shadowy regions NASA may find water or other compounds, the South Pole has some of the oldest terrain of the moon.

The Artemis III geology team evaluated the 9 landing zones to give us potential to new insights to understanding rocky planets and insights into the history of our Solar System.

Here are the landing zones that are current candidates for the Artemis III mission.

•         De Gerlache Rim 2
•         Haworth
•          Peak near Cabeus B
•          Malapert Massif
•          Mons Mouton Plateau
•          Mons Mouton
• ·         Noble Rim 1
•          Noble Rim 2
•         Slater Plain

 NASA’s team will continue to evaluate the moons South Pole region for possible Landing Zones, and the closer the date comes to launch of the Artemis III mission we will get a better understanding which landing zone will be used according to previous factors such as the launch window and the communication availability to earth.

Please feel free to read more about the process of choosing these landing sites over on NASA.gov