NASA’s Artemis Programme is in motion and moving ahead in the approach to successfully land humans on the Moon’s surface. With this in mind, the US space agency has been conducting several tests regarding the mission. From selecting the partner companies, to identifying the group of astronauts to lead the mission, all the things have been taken into careful consideration.
NASA has finally identified 13 landing regions near the Lunar south pole.
13 regions in close proximity to the dark side of the Moon
As per the NASA press release, each of these Lunar regions contains multiple potential landing sites for Artemis III, which will be the first of the Artemis missions to land a crew on the lunar surface, including the first woman to set foot on the Moon.
Interestingly, these regions are located within six degrees of latitude of the lunar south pole and, collectively, contain diverse geologic features. These landing sites are tightly coupled to the timing of the launch window, offering launch flexibility throughout the year.
A NASA analysis team selected these locations for the landing site with an aim to land in close proximity to the permanently shadowed region. Additionally, this will also allow the crew to conduct a moonwalk and limit the turbulence while landing.
Artemis Programme, first to study dark side of the Moon
NASA’s Artemis Programme will be the first such mission to study the Moon’s shadowed region. Reportedly, it is said that the shadowed region has never been studied by any space agency across the world, specifically, due to the lack of geographical information about the area.
Recently, China’s Change mission collected the first insight into the Moon’s permanently shadowed region. Further, the Artemis programme will allow the crew to collect samples and conduct scientific analysis in an uncompromised area, yielding important information about the depth, distribution, and composition of water ice that was confirmed at the Moon’s South Pole.
NASA is all set to kick off the Artemis programme, as the space agency has already announced the dates for Artemis 1 Lunar mission. Reportedly it will be the only non-crew leg of the entire Artemis programme.
The US space agency has tentatively selected 3 dates for the launch, August 29, September 2, and September 5, 2022.
