NASA has presented 13 regions on the moon where the next moon landing is possible. That’s what these potential landing zones have to offer.
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NASA names locations for next moon landing.
©NASA
NASA wants to go back to the moon. The US space agency has now announced at which locations on the moon a landing with US astronauts as part of the Artemins III mission is conceivable.
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Overall, NASA has identified 13 potential landing zones. All of these 13 landing zones lie around the south pole of the moon. Each of these landing zones is 15 km x 15 km. Within each of these landing zones, referred to as “landing regions” by NASA, there are in turn more narrowly defined landing sites, referred to as “landings sites”, within a radius of around 100 meters a lunar probe could touch down.
These are the names of the 13 potential landing zones:
To determine these landing zones, NASA scientists and engineers analyzed data transmitted by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. In addition, all known information from older moon publications and research flowed into the site search. Important aspects were the gradient of the terrain, the possibility of being able to communicate easily with the earth from there and the light conditions – sunlight is needed by the astronauts to generate energy. All for the purpose of making the landing as safe as possible.
The region around the South Pole is so exciting because there are many low-lying locations that sunlight never reaches. It’s also some of the oldest parts of the moon, according to NASA. The researchers hope to learn more about the history of the moon there.
Now the scientists are discussing the strengths and weaknesses of each zone.
