Candidate landing sites for astronauts in Artemis, a manned lunar exploration program led by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), have been released. Thirteen permanent shaded areas that do not receive sunlight were also selected at the lunar Antarctica.
NASA announced on its official channel on the 20th a candidate site for the astronaut landing for the ‘Artemis III’ mission (scheduled for 2025), where manned lunar exploration is carried out during the ‘Artemis’ project. NASA makes the final decision on the landing area considering the launch date and orbit of the rocket SLS (Space Launch System) and Orion spacecraft that will be used in combat.
All 13 regions are located at the lunar Antarctica. All of them are places that are permanently out of sunlight, and are composed of places specialized in crater exploration. Among the regional names, Rim, Ridge, Massif, and Plateau refer to crater borders, ridges, mountain groups, and plateaus, respectively.
①Faustini Rim A
②Peak Near Shackleton
③Connecting Ridge
④Connecting Ridge Extension
⑤de Gerlache Rim 1
⑥de Gerlache Rim 2
⑦ de Gerlache-Kocher Massif
⑧Haworth
⑨Malapert Massif
⑩Leibnitz Beta Plateau
⑪Nobile Rim 1
⑫ Nobile Rim 2
⑬ Amundsen Rim
Candidate regions were concentrated within 6° latitude of the Moon’s Antarctica. Each area is 15 × 15 km, and astronauts are planning to land within a radius of 100 m. The lunar lander Human Landing System (HLS) for the ‘Artemis III’ mission was adopted by Starship, a manned spacecraft developed by SpaceX. Naturally, the ability of Starship was taken into account in the process of selecting the landing site candidates.
In the ‘Artemis III’ mission, which will be carried out half a century following the end of the Apollo program in 1972, various scientific explorations are carried out. Significant missions to investigate the various resources for the long-term stay of the moon unfold. The total period was set to 6.5 days.
For long-term stays on the moon, it is very important to determine the presence of water. In 2008, the Indian lunar probe Chandrayaan 1 discovered that there is ice inside a lunar crater that is not exposed to sunlight all year round. In connection with the ‘Artemis’ project, NASA plans to launch an unmanned lunar rover Viper following 2024 to conduct water exploration.
The ‘Artemis I’ mission, which marks the start of the lunar exploration mission ‘Artemis’ for the first time in regarding 50 years, was scheduled for the 29th of this month. The SLS has already left the assembly building and stood on the launch pad. This mission will be successful if the Orion spacecraft (unmanned) launched by the SLS, which has reached the scheduled altitude, flies around the moon for 4 to 6 weeks, collects various information, and returns to Earth.
Reporter Jeong Ian [email protected]
