After a 50 year absence, NASA is tentatively scheduling to bring a human crew back to the Moon by 2025. In preparation, the agency has identified 13 candidate landing regions near the lunar South Pole for the Artemis III mission.

Large portions of the selected regions are permanently shadowed and rich in resources and in terrain unexplored by humans: Faustini Rim A, Peak Near Shackleton, Connecting Ridge, Connecting Ridge Extension, two regions on the rim of de Gerlache Crater, de Gerlache-Kocher Massif, Haworth, Malapert Massif, Leibnitz Beta Plateau, two regions on the rim of Nobile Crater and Amundsen Rim.

Data from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and relevant publications were analyzed in the site selection process. Launch window availability was factored in, as was the capacity of candidate sites to accommodate a safe landing. Lighting conditions, terrain slope and ease of communications with Earth were also considered.

Rendering of 13 candidate landing regions for Artemis III. Each region is approximately 9.3 by 9.3 miles, and a landing site is a location within those regions with an approximate 328-ft radius. Source: NASA

The 6.5-day mission is expected to land the first woman and the first person of color on the Moon. Samples will be collected and scientific analyses conducted during a moonwalk that should generate important information about the depth, distribution and composition of water ice that was confirmed at the Moon’s South Pole in 2018, according to data from NASA’s Moon Mineralogy Mapper.