NASA will reveal potential future landing sites for humans to return to the moon’s surface, and you can watch the briefing at Space.com today (August 19), or live on the space agency’s website.
NASA is serious about bringing humans back to Earth the moon This contract has already worked out the most suitable landing sites to target Artemis 3 mission in 2025.
The agency will reveal the candidate landing sites at today’s briefing (August 19) at 2 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT), NASA said at statement (Opens in a new tab). NASA and its partners plan to land near the moon’s south pole, where water ice is believed to be in permanently shaded craters. The area also offers interesting opportunities for scientific exploration including astronomical observations from the surface of the moon.
Related: NASA’s Artemis 1 Moon Mission: Live Updates
“Each of the selected areas, from which specific landing sites can be selected, is of scientific interest and has been evaluated based on terrain, communications and lighting conditions, as well as the ability to achieve scientific goals,” NASA said in the statement. “NASA will engage with the broader scientific community in the coming months to discuss the merits of each area.”
If you succeed, the landing will be the first time since Apollo 17 mission in 1972 that humans will set foot on Earth’s celestial companion. Artemis’ ambitious program aims not only to put the first woman and first person of color on the moon, but also to establish a permanent human presence on the moon and in its orbit.
The first step of the Artemis program is scheduled to take place later this month with an uncrewed test flight NASA’s Space Launch System rocketwhich will upload a file Orion crew capsule For a round trip to the moon and back to test a variety of important technologies. If successful, the task, called Artemis 1It will pave the way for the first human round trip to the Moon in 2024 and the subsequent landing in 2025.
NASA is already set SpaceX to build a landing system To carry astronauts from lunar orbit to the lunar surface as part of the Artemis 3 mission.
Later in the decade, NASA and its partners (European Space Agency, Canadian Space Agency, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) plan to establish a permanent lunar orbiting space station, called Gateand finally a base on the moon.
In the future, missions Mars It may take off from the Moon rather than Earth to reduce the cost and technical complexity of these launches.
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