## 2 The Lunar South Pole  
### Physical Analysis  
Our knowledge about the origin of the Moon is still limited and this underlines the importance of leading new scientific missions towards our natural satellites. Numerous theories on the Moon's formation have been suggested but the most accredited one is that the Earth-Moon system formed out of the debris from a giant impact of a Mars-sized body (called Theia) and the proto-Earth. Then, the history of the Moon has been divided into five different geological periods defined through the radiometric dating of lunar surface samples: the pre-Nectarian (from 4.55 to 3.920 Gy ago), the Nectarian (from 3.92 to 3.85 Gy ago), the Imbrium (from 3.85 to 3.2 Gy ago), the Eratosthenian (from 3.2 to 1.1 Gy ago) and the Copernican (from 1.1 Gy to today). The main events that have affected the lunar surface are impact cratering and volcanism and so each group shows its own compositional and morphological features. Multi-band imaging and over 400,000 UV-VIS lunar spectra obtained by [PERSON] together with information from Earth-based observation gave a first global map of the mineral distribution over the lunar surface. Briefly, lunar surface materials are generally composed of two major types of materials: the lunar highland materials with their light color and the darker lunar mare materials [3]. The highlands are mostly composed of anorthosite (95% Ca-rich plagioclase and minor amounts of low-Ca pyroxene, olivine and clinopyroxene), Mg-rich rocks and KREEP rocks (rich in potassium (K), phosphorus (P) and rare-earth elements (REEs)); on the other hand, the 22 mames mainly spread on the near side are composed principally of basaltic lava flows, which in turn can be divided into three broad categories: high-Ti basalts, low-Ti basalts and high-Al, low-Ti basalts [4]. The resource potential of the Moon is not confined to the sphere of mining activities related to its formation but there is a wide range of potential lunar resources that might affect three different possible uses for lunar materials: the use of lunar materials to facilitate continued exploration of the Moon through In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU), the use of lunar resources to simplify scientific and economic activity in the cislunar space and the importation of lunar resources to the Earth's surface [5]. A long-term and sustainable human presence on the Moon has to include different types of resources like materials for Moon settlements construction, power systems, rocket fuel, etc. ; eight major categories of lunar resources are summarized below [6] as follows:  
* Water ice in polar areas;
* Non-polar hydrogen and oxygen implanted in the lunar regolith from the solar wind;
* Regolith-implanted helium-3 from the solar wind. Helium-3 could provide nuclear energy in a fusion reactor with the advantages that it is not radioactive and it would not produce dangerous waste products; all these hypotheses are under investigation;
* Uranium and thorium in silica-rich domes and KREEP basalts on the lunar nearside, other important elements for the developments of space-based nuclear power and nuclear propulsion concepts;
* Basalt-hosted metals such as titanium, iron and aluminum ([PERSON] et al. For example, the main Ti-bearing phase in lunar rocks is the mineral ilmenite particularly accredited for the retention of some solar wind-implanted volatiles and for ISRU oxygen extraction;
* Volatiles and elements of pyroclastic origin that include iron, zinc, cadmium, mercury, lead, copper and fluorine;
* Rare metals and platinum-group elements such as nickel, platinum, palladium, iridium and gold that may occur within segregated impact melt sheets and layered mafic extrusives;* Other volatiles such as nitrogen, carbon and lithium in breccia or exhalative deposits. This list as well our knowledge of the Moon's geology is limited and based on remote sensing data from lunar probes and samples belonging only to a dozen landing sites principally at low latitude and on the near side.