South pole of the Moon

A mosaic of the south pole of our Moon showing locations of major craters, with images taken by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.

An international team has analysed many satellite images covering the lunar South Polar region, taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which have a resolution of about one metre. These images allow identification of features such as boulders and rocky craters and terrain around the south polar region including the ‘connecting ridge’, one of the Artemis III candidate landing sites.

The third Artemis mission will see astronauts land on the Moon around the south pole to explore and retrieve scientifically relevant samples. A study has identified areas of particular interest within the Artemis III candidate landing sites, where multiple samples of boulders and rock exposures can be collected by astronauts during a future mission.  

The full paper is available here: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/PSJ/aca590/meta