NASA shared details of nine regions where the Artemis III mission could land on the Moon. The Artemis III mission is one of the most exciting and highly anticipated space missions of the next decade. Until now, NASA had shared almost no information about the landing location where it planned to send its astronauts. While we don’t expect Artemis III to launch anytime soon, as the latest Artemis II delay means even more delays, many were expecting NASA to share more details.
All nine of the possible Artemis III landing sites are located near the Lunar South Pole, which astronomers believe may hold exciting secrets, such as crystallized water-holding lunar beads. This new list of possible candidates is a version of NASA’s initial list with even more candidates eliminated and includes peaks near Cabeus B, Haworth, Malapert Massif, Mons Mouton Plateau, Mons Mouton, Nobile Rim 1, Nobile Rim 2, de Gerlache Rim 2, Slater It includes the plain regions.
It is not yet clear when NASA will make a final decision between these locations. However, with SpaceX’s success in capturing Starship on its fifth test, Artemis missions no longer seem as distant as they did a few months ago.
Although NASA does not plan to use Starship for every part of the journey, SpaceX will have a critical role in sending humanity back to the Moon for the first time since the 1970s. Additionally, NASA notes that when selecting these potential landing sites for Artemis III, the team evaluated the capabilities of the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket, Orion capsule, and Starship HLS (Human Landing System) to ensure they would be compatible with each site.
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