The third mission of the NASA Artemis space program involves the flight of the Orion spacecraft launched by the SLS rocket.
The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration, in preparation for sending astronauts to the Moon under the Artemis program, has identified 13 candidate regions for landing at the South Pole of the Moon. This was reported by the press service of NASA.
“Selecting these regions means we’re one giant step closer to returning humans to the Moon for the first time since Apollo. When we do, it will be unlike any previous mission, because the astronauts will will travel to dark places unexplored by humans.” , and lay the foundation for a long-term stay in the future,” said Mark Kirasich, deputy assistant administrator of the Artemis Campaign Development Division.
Specifically, NASA has identified the following candidate regions for the Artemis III lunar landing:
-
high ground near Shackleton Crater,
-
edge of Faustini Crater,
-
two sides of the mouth of De Gerlach,
-
the ridge connecting the Shackleton and de Gerlach craters and the area adjacent to it,
-
Haworth Crater,
-
sides of Nobile crater,
-
edge of Amundsen Crater,
-
Leibniz Beta Plateau,
-
massif de Gerlach-Kocher,
-
massif of Malaperta.
Each of these regions is located within six degrees of latitude of the Moon’s South Pole and together contain different geological features. All of these regions provide potential landing options for the Artemis 3 mission.
To select the regions, a team of scientists and engineers evaluated the regions based on their ability to provide a safe landing, using criteria such as terrain, ease of communication with Earth, lighting conditions, and Space Launch Systems (SLS) launch vehicle capabilities.
All the regions considered are scientifically significant because of their proximity to the South Pole of the Moon, which is an area that contains permanent shadow regions rich in resources and unexplored land.
The launch of the Artemis 3 mission is scheduled for 2025.
It was previously reported that NASA’s Artemis 1 lunar mission will contain samples of living organisms that will help scientists learn about the impact of deep space on the human body.
NASA will destroy the rocket that flew to the moon
News from Correspondent.net on Telegram. Subscribe to our channel Athletistic
Source: korrespondent
