{"id":141140,"date":"2022-08-18T21:12:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-19T01:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/?migration=converted-node-482143"},"modified":"2023-07-26T16:40:31","modified_gmt":"2023-07-26T20:40:31","slug":"moons-south-pole-is-full-of-mystery-science-intrigue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/humans-in-space\/moons-south-pole-is-full-of-mystery-science-intrigue\/","title":{"rendered":"Moon’s South Pole is Full of Mystery, Science, Intrigue"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"\" class=\"hds-article-hero-header nasa-gb-align-full bg-carbon-90 width-full maxw-full color-mode-dark hds-module hds-module-full wp-block-nasa-blocks-article-hero-header\">\t\t<div class=\"hds-cover-wrapper width-full maxw-full minh-tablet grid-container minh-tablet flex-column padding-0\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"hds-foreground-wrapper display-flex flex-direction-column\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"grid-container grid-container-block margin-top-auto width-full maxw-desktop-lg padding-y-9 padding-x-3 desktop:padding-x-3 z-400\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"z-400 grid-col-12 tablet:grid-col-12 desktop:grid-col-7 z-400\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"margin-0\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"label color-spacesuit-white margin-bottom-2\">5 Min Read<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"heading-41 line-height-md color-spacesuit-white-important\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMoon’s South Pole is Full of Mystery, Science, Intrigue\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"grid-col-12 tablet:grid-col-12 desktop:grid-col-5\"><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"skrim-overlay skrim-left mobile-skrim-top z-200\"><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<figure class=\"hds-media-background  \"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"925\" height=\"925\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/malapertmassif.png?w=925\" class=\"attachment-1536x1536 size-1536x1536\" alt=\"malapert massif\" style=\"transform: scale(1.2); transform-origin: 50% 50%; object-position: 50% 50%; object-fit: cover;\" block_context=\"nasa-block\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/malapertmassif.png 925w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/malapertmassif.png?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/malapertmassif.png?resize=300,300 300w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/malapertmassif.png?resize=768,768 768w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/malapertmassif.png?resize=50,50 50w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/malapertmassif.png?resize=100,100 100w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/malapertmassif.png?resize=200,200 200w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/malapertmassif.png?resize=400,400 400w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/malapertmassif.png?resize=600,600 600w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/malapertmassif.png?resize=900,900 900w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 925px) 100vw, 925px\" loading=\"eager\" \/><\/figure>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"padding-y-3 padding-x-3\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"grid-container grid-container-block padding-x-0\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"hds-caption maxw-mobile desktop:padding-x-3\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"hds-caption-text p-sm margin-0 color-carbon-30\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div><figcaption>Malapert massif (informal name) is thought to be a remnant of the South Pole – Aitken basin rim, which formed more than 4 billion years ago.\u00a0 More recently, this magnificent peak (lower left) was selected as an Artemis III candidate landing region. Image is 25 kilometers wide in the center, Narrow Angle Camera M1432398306LR.<\/figcaption><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"hds-credits color-spacesuit-white-important\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span>Credits: <\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span>NASA\/GSFC\/Arizona State University<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Lee esta historia en espa\u00f1ol<em> <a href=\"\/feature\/el-polo-sur-de-la-luna-est-repleto-de-misterio-ciencia-intriga\">aqu\u00ed<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>NASA has its sights set on the lunar South Pole area for the Artemis era of human lunar exploration. Extreme, contrasting conditions make it a challenging location for Earthlings to land, live, and work, but the region\u2019s unique characteristics hold promise for unprecedented deep space scientific discoveries that could help us learn about our place in the universe and venture farther into the solar system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Lighting and Terrain<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>\u200bAt the lunar South Pole, the Sun hovers below or just above the horizon, creating temperatures upwards of 130\u00b0F (54\u00b0C) during sunlit periods. Even during these periods of illumination, soaring mountains cast dark shadows and deep craters protect perpetual darkness in their abysses. Some of these craters are home to <a href=\"https:\/\/svs.gsfc.nasa.gov\/11218\" rel=\"noopener\">permanently shadowed regions<\/a> that haven\u2019t seen sunlight in billions of years and experience temperatures as low as -334\u00b0F (-203\u00b0C).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even using advanced sensors, the combination of terrain and lighting conditions will make it difficult to tell what the ground looks like from a vehicle descending to the lunar South Pole, and some systems may be vulnerable to rising and plummeting temperatures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Astronauts descending to the lunar surface will be able to manually take control of a lander\u2019s onboard automated guidance system if necessary, as Neil Armstrong did when the Eagle\u2019s guidance system steered them four miles off course, heading toward a field of boulders. Armstrong had a clear, sunlit view of the Moon below, but Artemis astronauts will have a disrupted view, with long dark shadows hiding important terrain features. To help them navigate, they will have the advantage of preloaded maps providing topographic details from robotic missions like the <a href=\"\/mission_pages\/LRO\/main\/index.html\">Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter<\/a> (LRO) along with advanced training using technology not available to Apollo crews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Discovery<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Breakthrough discoveries from robotic missions like LRO, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/ames\/lcross\" rel=\"noopener\">Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite<\/a>, and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/press-release\/nasa-s-sofia-discovers-water-on-sunlit-surface-of-moon\" rel=\"noopener\">SOFIA flying observatory<\/a> have confirmed that the Moon is not a bone-dry, dormant world. NASA\u2019s Artemis I flight test will deploy <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/exploration\/systems\/sls\/launching-science-and-technology-on-nasa-s-artemis-i-mission.html\" rel=\"noopener\">two CubeSats<\/a> to advance the search for lunar resources, and a water-hunting rover, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/viper\" rel=\"noopener\">VIPER<\/a>, will be the first resource-mapping mission on another planetary body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Beyond robots, human exploration of this previously unexplored area of the Moon introduces a unique opportunity for scientific discovery. Artemis crews will conduct field geology, deploy instruments, and collect samples that will help us understand planetary processes and the character and origin of lunar polar volatiles. Volatiles are chemical elements or compounds in a solid state that melt or vaporize at moderately warm temperatures. An ice cube is an example of a chemical compound volatile. It is made up of two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen, and it begins to melt when exposed to temperatures above 32\u00b0F (0\u00b0C). At water\u2019s boiling point, it begins to vaporize. The permanently shadowed regions near the poles act as traps for an array of volatiles, with each melting and vaporizing at different temperatures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cLunar volatiles are likely trapped in permanently shadowed regions of the Moon, and those volatiles have a story to tell us about the history of the solar system,\u201d said Jake Bleacher, NASA\u2019s Chief Exploration Scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. \u201cThe ability to extract deep core samples and maintain their temperature and vacuum properties all the way back to research facilities on Earth could lead to powerful discoveries\u2014not only about the volatiles, but also about the history of our solar system.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These deep core samples will be a 4.5-billion-year testimony about the solar system. The stratigraphic and textural record will get older as the cores get deeper, laying out a detailed report of the history of our Earth-Moon system. A leading theory suggests that a very young Earth collided with another planet about the size of Mars, spewing globs of the two bodies into space, with bits and pieces captured and molded by Earth\u2019s gravity field to become our Moon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The core samples and volatiles collected with human precision and real-time decision making will significantly amplify the catalog of data from robotic missions tracking the abundance and distribution of volatiles. This knowledge could have a profound impact on the future of deep space exploration and commerce, leading to lunar resource mining to reduce the amount of supplies like oxygen and hydrogen\u2014key life sustaining elements and ingredients for rocket fuel\u2014sent from Earth to support humans in deep space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">New Century, New Exploration<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>More than 50 years after Apollo, we aren\u2019t just returning to the Moon, we\u2019re going to an incredibly unique location to commence a new era of deep space science. The South Pole has striking features that present new opportunities for long-term deep space science and exploration. Although landing, living, and working in these polar conditions will be challenging, technology advancements underway for Artemis will meet these challenges and potentially lead to some of the greatest discoveries of the 21st century. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lee esta historia en espa\u00f1ol aqu\u00ed. NASA has its sights set on the lunar South Pole area for the Artemis era of human lunar exploration. Extreme, contrasting conditions make it a challenging location for Earthlings to land, live, and work, but the region\u2019s unique characteristics hold promise for unprecedented deep space scientific discoveries that could help [...]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":280580,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nasa_hds_core_meta_l10n":"en-US","nasa_hds_core_meta_article_editor":"91","nasa_hds_core_meta_article_contacts":[],"nasa_hds_core_meta_article_topic":"128438","nasa_hds_core_meta_linked_locations":[],"nasa_hds_core_meta_article_related_articles":[],"hds_migrate_meta_pr_release_id":"","hds_migrate_meta_pr_release_type":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_location_x":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_location_y":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_gallery_images":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[2681,2656],"news-tags":[],"internal-terms":[12008],"coauthors":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Moon’s South Pole is Full of Mystery, Science, Intrigue","url":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/humans-in-space\/moons-south-pole-is-full-of-mystery-science-intrigue\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/humans-in-space\/moons-south-pole-is-full-of-mystery-science-intrigue\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/shackleton-de-gerlache-ridge-south-pole-lroc.png?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/shackleton-de-gerlache-ridge-south-pole-lroc.png"},"articleSection":"Missions","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Erin Mahoney"}],"creator":["Erin Mahoney"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"NASA","logo":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/themes\/nasa\/assets\/images\/nasa-logo.svg"},"keywords":["Humans in Space","Artemis"],"dateCreated":"2022-08-19T01:12:00Z","datePublished":"2022-08-19T01:12:00Z","dateModified":"2023-07-26T20:40:31Z"},"rendered":"<meta name=\"parsely-title\" content=\"Moon’s South Pole is Full of Mystery, Science, Intrigue\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-link\" content=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/humans-in-space\/moons-south-pole-is-full-of-mystery-science-intrigue\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-type\" content=\"post\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-image-url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/shackleton-de-gerlache-ridge-south-pole-lroc.png?w=150&h=150&crop=1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-pub-date\" content=\"2022-08-19T01:12:00Z\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-section\" content=\"Missions\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-tags\" content=\"Humans in Space,Artemis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-author\" content=\"Erin Mahoney\" \/>","tracker_url":"https:\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/nasa.gov\/p.js"},"read_time":5,"time_ago":"2 years","featured_image":{"id":280580,"file":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/shackleton-de-gerlache-ridge-south-pole-lroc.png","title":"Shackleton De Gerlache Ridge South Pole LROC","alt":"Oblique view of the rim of Shackleton crater (on the left) and the Shackleton - de Gerlache ridge that runs from middle left to upper right, seen in an image captured by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera. The south pole is near the small, sharp, bright crater on the rim of Shackleton (left side of the image about 25% up from the bottom). Ridgeline is about 14 kilometers long","caption":"Oblique view of the rim of Shackleton crater (on the left) and the Shackleton - de Gerlache ridge that runs from middle left to upper right, seen in an image captured by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera. The south pole is near the small, sharp, bright crater on the rim of Shackleton (left side of the image about 25% up from the bottom). Ridgeline is about 14 kilometers long"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141140"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/91"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141140"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141140\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":331823,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141140\/revisions\/331823"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141140"},{"taxonomy":"news-tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-tags?post=141140"},{"taxonomy":"internal-terms","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal-terms?post=141140"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=141140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}