The new images of the moon’s surface show breathtaking details – according to NASA, the area around the south pole of the moon has never been seen like this before. That reports that Online magazine Space.com. Artemis 3 is to land with a crew near the South Pole in order to collect material and data from there.
The region selected for the landing site is very shady and therefore only known from relatively coarse image material. The rugged terrain that the Artemis 3 astronauts will encounter at the moon’s south pole, captured by NASA’s ShadowCam. These new images have now been captured using a highly sensitive optical camera system called ShadowCam.
NASA reveals the first…
…pictures of the landing site
The camera system is onboard the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO) spacecraft built by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) into lunar orbit. The probe, which has other scientific instruments on board in addition to the camera, was launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in August 2022 and entered a lunar orbit the following December. Since then, ShadowCam has been delivering images of the moon to NASA. ShadowCam imagery is considered to be the cornerstone of the Artemis 3 mission as well as future missions. Attached is a picture of Shackleton Crater near the lunar south pole. Until now, details of the crater’s permanently shadowed wall and floor have remained in the truest sense of the word obscure. ShadowCam provides footage of these regions. A recording of the steep inner wall of the crater showed just how detailed the ShadowCam images actually are. One image shows a trail made when a boulder rolled down the slope of the crater, which is 21 kilometers wide and 4 kilometers deep.
Artemis 3 launch in 2025
Observations like these can help characterize the rocks in the region and determine the shapes and velocities of the boulders that create the tracks, NASA says. Such data is invaluable in the run-up to the Artemis 3 mission. Artemis 2 is expected to launch in late 2024. If everything goes according to plan, Artemis 3 could follow as early as 2025.
- NASA explores planned lunar landing site for Artemis 3 using new high-sensitivity camera
- Moon surface images show stunning detail around South Pole
- ShadowCam camera system of the KARI spacecraft KPLO provides images of the moon
- Foundation for Artemis 3 mission and future missions
- Detailed image of the steep inner wall of Shackleton Crater
- Data valuable for Artemis 3 mission: characterize rocks, determine shapes and speeds of boulders
- Artemis 2 expected to launch in 2024, Artemis 3 in 2025
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