NASA will send astronauts into…dark holes on the Moon  

Announce the locations

The Artemis mission, which will send astronauts to the Moon by December 2024, is now very close. The first astronauts will land on the moon at the south pole, but where exactly has not been decided until now. NASA has therefore announced 13 candidate landing sites for the Artemis III mission, the first manned mission to the surface of the Moon.

Choosing these areas means we’ve taken a leap to return to the Moon for the first time since the Apollo missions. When we do, it will be unlike any other mission, as astronauts will have to find themselves in dark, unexplored regions and lay the groundwork for future long-duration stays.

Each of the 13 sites is within 6 degrees of latitude from the South Pole, an area where no one has landed on the Moon before. It is considerably more challenging for the technical field than lunar landings near the equator. So the unmanned Artemis I and Artemis II missions will have to succeed before we send humans.

The craters of the South Pole are permanently in the dark, creating icy traps that do not rise above -163 degrees Celsius. There, scientists hope to find water in the form of ice, several meters thick. Each of the 13 areas is about 15 square kilometers and within them are several dark craters 200 meters in diameter. The landing zones are located on the elevated rims of the craters, and astronauts will have to walk to get inside the crater.

Developing a method for exploring the Solar System means learning how to use the available resources while maintaining their scientific integrity. Lunar ice is scientifically valuable, but it’s also a resource because we can extract oxygen and hydrogen from it for life support systems and fuel.

Remember that the Artemis I mission will launch on August 29. It will travel unmanned to the Moon and back. Inside the capsule will be scientific dummies to study the physical effects of the journey on the astronauts.