What Are Potential Landing Sites on the Lunar South Pole for In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU)?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.58445/rars.3857Keywords:
In-Situ Resource Utilization, Lunar Base, South Pole Aitken Basin, Lunar regolith, Lunar ice, Permanent StructureAbstract
Global interest in the Moon greatly diminished with the conclusion of the United States Apollo Missions of the 60’s and 70’s. This decreasing interest is starting to turn around, however, as NASA conducts its Artemis missions in order to promote increased interest in going back to the Moon. Interest on the Moon is back on the rise as many space agencies -- including the US, China, Japan, Canada, and the European Space Agency – are both competing and working together to create a permanent presence on the Moon. In order to accomplish this, we will not only have to choose a suitable landing site for a task of this magnitude, but also an exact purpose of what a permanent lunar base would do. From acting as a location for brand new research capabilities, such as realizing the effects of low gravity on human physiology and the utilization of new types of telescopes unusable here on Earth, to being a brand new step forward for humankind's exploration of space, a lunar base has many benefits. The goal of this paper is to showcase what exactly we can use a lunar base for and a couple of the most prominent and viable candidates for places to land on the Moon for a mission of this scale and complexity.
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