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Travel to the Moon 

Ever wonder what it would be like to wander around the Moon? Sky gazers can now journey there without leaving their desk. A gorgeous pair of new lunar maps – the Image Mosaic and Topographic Maps of the Moon - is now available online .

These maps were designed to help both the public and scientists understand the overall appearance and topography of the Moon. Viewers can locate features of interest, including Apollo landing sites and specific impact craters. Amateur astronomers can use the maps to directly compare what they see through their telescopes to features on the map.

The printed versions of the new maps can be placed on a wall or quickly accessed for general reference, while the online version offers viewers an opportunity to zoom in to examine features.

Far-Out Images

These new maps were constructed using images and topographic (elevation) data from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), which has been orbiting the Moon since 2009.

The first map (Sheet 1) is an image mosaic based on data from the Wide Angle Camera (WAC), a camera onboard the LRO. This image mosaic map shows the official names of physical features, such as volcanoes and impact craters, across the entire surface of the Moon.

“Images from the LRO Camera have greatly advanced our knowledge of the Moon,” said Dr. Mark Robinson, the principal investigator for the LRO Camera and professor at Arizona State University. “High resolution images have revealed very young lunar volcanoes ten to 100 million years old, contrary to conventional wisdom which suggests that lunar volcanism ceased between one and two billion years ago.”

Getting the Lay of the Land

The second map (Sheet 2) is based on topographic data from the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA), another instrument onboard the LRO.

“The LOLA data are a foundational dataset to be used in multiple types of studies for years to come,” said Dr. Erwan Mazarico, a co-investigator for the LOLA instrument. “The exceptional quality of the topographic map is a direct result of the large amount of data LOLA has collected over several years.”

This map’s colors indicate the elevation of different areas of the Moon’s surface, with the blue shades indicating low elevation areas, white indicating moderate elevation areas, and the gray to black shades indicating high elevation areas. One can imagine the large impact craters and smooth lava plains covered with water, giving the appearance of deep blue oceans, with the gray and black lunar highlands being the Moon’s mountains.

Geographic Regions of the Moon

The Moon has two geographic regions that are readily apparent to the naked eye, and can be distinguished on the maps as the bright and dark areas. The lunar “maria” (Latin for “seas”) are the dark, smooth areas, and were named by early astronomers who believed them to be true seas. The lunar maria are volcanic plains, formed by ancient volcanic eruptions of basaltic lava which flowed over the Moon’s surface and filled the low elevation areas. The bright areas - the lunar highlands – are composed of a rock type called anorthosite, and are generally at higher elevations than the lunar maria.

The highest point on the lunar surface is 6,358 feet higher than the summit of Mt. Everest, the highest point on Earth. Viewers can find the highest point on the map, which is 35,387 feet above the Moon’s average elevation, near the crater Engel’gradt. The lowest area on the Moon is 29,836 feet below the Moon’s average elevation. This low point can be found in the southern part of the topographic map, within South Pole-Aitken Basin, an enormous impact crater.

Improvements on the Previous Lunar Chart

“One of the last NASA published global maps of the Moon was NASA’s 1979 Lunar Chart (LPC-1), and this new public release product updates the Lunar Chart in several important ways,” said Brent Archinal, a scientist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center .

The early Lunar Chart was drawn by airbrush artists and based on telescopic and orbital images of the Moon, but the new Image Mosaic map is derived directly from digital photographs of the Moon. The Lunar Chart had little topographic information, while the new maps present elevation data. The Topographic Map shows the information with detailed color-coding based on high accuracy LOLA laser altitude data. The terms and names used in the current maps are up to date, following current International Astronomical Union recommendations. All features that are more than about 50 miles in size are labeled, and some smaller features of interest are labeled as well.

These maps were made possible by NASA, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mission, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera team, and the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter team. Funding was provided by NASA's Planetary Geology and Geophysics Cartography Program.

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All About the Moon

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Chances are that when you imagine the night sky, one of the first things that comes to mind is the Moon “glowing” in the darkness. The Moon has always held a special place in our imaginations and in daily life.

Explore the Moon! Click and drag to rotate the Moon. Scroll or pinch to zoom in and out. Credit: NASA Visualization Technology Applications and Development (VTAD)

It’s no wonder that we are fascinated. The Moon is Earth’s only natural satellite and one that we can easily see most nights.

The Moon has inspired wonder and creativity for thousands of years. This image appeared in a 1902 French film called "Le Voyage dans la Lune" ("A Trip to the Moon").

What makes the Moon glow?

The Moon does not shine with its own light. It simply reflects light coming from the Sun.

This is the face of the Moon that we see from Earth. This image is based on data from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft. Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University

Why does it look like the Moon is changing shape?

From Earth, it might look like the Moon is changing shape each night – from a tiny sliver to a half moon to a full moon and back again. What’s actually happening is that from our spot on Earth, we see different parts of the Moon lit up by the Sun as the Moon travels in its orbit.

As the Moon travels around Earth, different parts of it are lit up by the Sun. These changes in the Moon's appearance from our view on Earth are called moon phases. This graphic shows all eight moon phases we see as the Moon makes a complete orbit of Earth about every four weeks. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Is there actually a “dark side" of the Moon?

No. The Moon rotates on its own axis at the same rate that it orbits around Earth. That means we always see the same side of the Moon from our position on Earth. The side we don't see gets just as much light, so a more accurate name for that part of the Moon is the "far side."

We only ever see one side of the Moon because as it orbits around Earth, it also rotates on its own axis at the same speed. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The "far side" of the Moon looks very different than the near side (see the first photo in this article). Notice how few dark areas the far side has. This image is based on data from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft. Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Arizona State University

How did the Moon form?

Scientists believe that the Moon formed early in the solar system’s history after Earth and an object about the size of Mars smashed into each other. The impact sent chunks of Earth and the impactor into space that were pulled together by gravity, creating the Moon.

How do we study the Moon?

Even thousands of years ago, humans drew pictures to track the changes of the Moon. Later, people used their observations of the Moon to create calendars.

Today, we study the Moon using telescopes and spacecraft. For example, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has been circling the Moon and sending back measurements since 2009.

The Moon is the only other planetary body that humans have visited. On July 20, 1969, NASA astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the first people to set foot on the dusty surface of the Moon. Ten other American astronauts followed. They collected hundreds of pounds of lunar soil and rock samples, conducted experiments and installed equipment for follow-up measurements.

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin set up several scientific experiments while on the surface of the Moon during the historic Apollo 11 mission. You can see the lunar module, “Eagle,” in the background. Credit: NASA

What do we know about the Moon?

Today, we know that the Moon is covered by craters as well as dust and debris from comets, asteroids and meteoroid impacts. We know that the Moon’s dark areas, called maria – which is Latin for seas – are not actually seas. Instead, they are craters that lava seeped into billions of years ago. We know that the Moon has almost no atmosphere and only about one-sixth of Earth’s gravity. We even know that there is quite a bit of frozen water tucked away in craters near the Moon's poles.

There is no wind or air on the Moon to help “erase” craters, so the surface is covered with the remains of old and new impacts. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA

There are still many questions left to answer about the Moon. And the most exciting days of lunar activity may still lie ahead as NASA sends humans on the next missions to the Moon and eventually on to Mars!

For more information visit:

NASA Science

More about the Moon!

How far away is the Moon?

Why does the Moon have craters?

What are the different types of full moons?

If you liked this, you may like:

21 quotes from the Apollo 11 astronauts on everything from walking on the moon to the future of spaceflight

• 50 years ago, the Apollo 11 astronauts took off for the moon.
• Aside from Neil Armstrong's unforgettable words upon walking the lunar surface, the three astronauts had much more to say about their experiences.
• Here are their most unforgettable quotes on everything from their historic mission to the future of space travel.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Half a century ago, on July 16, 1969, the Apollo 11 astronauts took off for the moon.

Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, and Michael Collins arrived four days later to a place no human being had ever been before.

Collins orbited the moon while Armstrong and Aldrin landed on its surface. It took them hours to put on their space suits and prep for touchdown. After descending the ladder onto the lunar surface, Armstrong uttered his historic words: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." ( Armstrong would later claim,  "'That's one small step for 'a' man.' It's just that people just didn't hear it.")

The 600 million people watching the moon landing on television would remember that line. But the three astronauts had much more to say about their experience flying to the moon and back.

Here are the astronauts' most memorable words.

Neil Armstrong on vision

"There are great ideas undiscovered, breakthroughs available to those who can remove one of truth's protective layers. There are places to go beyond belief."

Source: United Press International

Buzz Aldrin on dreams

"One truth I have discovered for sure: When you believe that all things are possible and you are willing to work hard to accomplish your goals, you can achieve the next 'impossible' dream. No dream is too high!"

Source : "No Dream is Too High: Life Lessons From a Man Who Walked on the Moon"

Buzz Aldrin on keeping an open mind

"Your mind is like a parachute: If it isn't open, it doesn't work."

Neil Armstrong on challenges (answered during Apollo 11's pre-flight news conference)

"I think we're going to the moon because it's in the nature of the human being to face challenges. It's by the nature of his deep inner soul … we're required to do these things just as salmon swim upstream."

Source: Internet Archive

Michael Collins on liftoff

"We are off! And do we know it, not just because the world is yelling 'Liftoff' in our ears, but because the seats of our pants tell us so! Trust your instruments, not your body, the modern pilot is always told, but this beast is best felt. Shake, rattle and roll!"

Source : "Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut's Journeys"

Buzz Aldrin on weightlessness

"There's a tremendously satisfying freedom associated with weightlessness. It's challenging in the absence of traction or leverage, and it requires thoughtful readjustment. I found the experience of weightlessness to be one of the most fun and enjoyable, challenging and rewarding, experiences of spaceflight. Returning to Earth brings with it a great sense of heaviness, and a need for careful movement. In some ways it's not too different from returning from a rocking ocean ship."

Source : Scholastic

Neil Armstrong after landing on the moon

"Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed."

Source: NASA

Neil Armstrong's first words on the moon

"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

Neil Armstrong on his famous quote

"I thought, well, when I step off it's just going to be a little step — a step from there down to there — but then I thought about all those 400,000 people who had given me the opportunity to make that step and thought it's going to be a big something for all those folks and, indeed for a lot of others that weren't even involved in the project, so it was kind of a simple correlation."

Source: CBS News

Neil Armstrong on his moonwalk

"Pilots take no special joy in walking: pilots like flying. Pilots generally take pride in a good landing, not in getting out of the vehicle."

Source: "In the Shadow of the Moon"

Buzz Aldrin on the lunar surface

"Magnificent desolation."

Source: "Magnificent Desolation: The Long Journey Home from the Moon"

Neil Armstrong on the lunar surface

"It's an interesting place to be. I recommend it."

Michael Collins on looking down at Earth

"I really believe that if the political leaders of the world could see their planet from a distance of, let's say 100,000 miles, their outlook would be fundamentally changed. The all-important border would be invisible, that noisy argument suddenly silenced."

Source : Michael Collins on Twitter

Michael Collins on orbiting the moon alone

"I am alone now, truly alone, and absolutely isolated from any known life. I am it. If a count were taken, the score would be three billion plus two over on the other side of the moon, and one plus God knows what on this side."

Buzz Aldrin on looking back at Earth

"From the distance of the moon, Earth was four times the size of a full moon seen from Earth. It was a brilliant jewel in the black velvet sky. Yet it was still at a great distance, considering the challenges of the voyage home."

Buzz Aldrin on being the second man on the moon

"As the senior crew member, it was appropriate for [Armstrong] to be the first. But after years and years of being asked to speak to a group of people and then be introduced as the second man on the moon, it does get a little frustrating. Is it really necessary to point out to the crowd that somebody else was first when we all went through the same training, we all landed at the same time and all contributed? But for the rest of my life I'll always be identified as the second man to walk on the moon. [Laughs.]"

Source: National Geographic

Buzz Aldrin on returning to space

"Everyone who's been in space would, I'm sure, welcome the opportunity for a return to the exhilarating experiences there. For me, a flight in a shuttle, though most satisfying, would be anticlimactic after my flight to the moon."

Neil Armstrong on being an engineer

"I am, and ever will be, a white-socks, pocket-protector, nerdy engineer — born under the second law of thermodynamics, steeped in the steam tables, in love with free-body diagrams, transformed by Laplace, and propelled by compressible flow."

Source: National Academy of Engineering

Michael Collins on Mars

"I see more moon missions as delaying Mars, which is a much more interesting place to go."

Neil Armstrong on lunar bases

"Oh, I am quite certain that we will have such bases in our lifetime, somewhat like the Antarctic stations and similar scientific outposts — continually manned. Although, certainly there is the problem of the environment, the vacuum, the high and low temperatures of day and night. Still, in all, in many ways, it's more hospitable than Antarctica might be."

Source: BBC interview via Business Insider

Buzz Aldrin on exploration

"The urge to explore has propelled evolution since the first water creatures reconnoitered the land. Like all living systems, cultures cannot remain static; they evolve or decline. They explore or expire."

Source : Albuquerque Tribune

• Main content

It’s a wonderful world — and universe — out there.

Come explore with us!  

Science News Explores

Let’s learn about the moon.

It’s our constant companion, and influences life on Earth in ways big and small

This is a picture of the moon taken from the International Space Station on January 29, 2021.

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By Bethany Brookshire

March 9, 2021 at 6:30 am

The moon is more than a bright, beautiful orb in the night sky. Our nearest neighbor also plays a big part in making the Earth a good place to live. Located an average of only 384,400 kilometers (238,855 miles) away, it’s got enough gravity to help stabilize the Earth on its axis. That makes our planet’s climate more stable than it would be otherwise. The moon’s gravity also pulls the oceans back and forth, producing tides.

As the moon orbits the Earth, it passes through different phases . They are the result of sunlight reflecting off the moon, and where the moon is in relation to the Earth. During a full moon, we see one entire half of the moon lit by the sun because the Earth is between the moon and the sun. During the new moon, none of the moon is visible and the sky is exceptionally dark. That’s because the moon is between the Earth and the sun, and only the dark side of the moon faces our planet .

The moon cycles through all its phases once every 27 days. This is also the amount of time it takes to go around the Earth. As a result, the same side of the moon always faces the Earth. The far side of the moon was a mystery until people developed spacecraft. Now that far side is a bit less of an unknown. China has even landed a spacecraft on this far side of the moon, to learn more about it.

The moon’s light and its effect on the tides are important to animals here on Earth. Some animals time their breeding with the tides. Others change their feeding to stay safe from lions when the moon is dark. And deep in the Arctic night , the moon can provide some illusive illumination for living things.

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The moon has power over animals : The moon is known for its tidal effects. But its light also can exert a powerful influence on animals large and small. (11/7/2019) Readability: 8.0

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AIR & SPACE MAGAZINE

A road trip on the moon.

Sightseeing tips for a lunar vacation

Paul D. Spudis

Like many others, my wife and I enjoy getting away and visiting new places. A great way to take it all in and learn more is by taking a road trip —driving through beautiful landscapes, navigating new terrain to various points of beauty, and stopping to visit places of historical interest. I always try to work in points of geological interest on our trips (a geologist’s and history buff’s education never ends). Often, both history and geology combine at chosen destinations. Could such a sojourn be contemplated for the Moon? In the future, people might be traveling across the Moon, living and working there, as well as venturing out to sightsee at various significant locales. What places would I set out to see on a lunar road trip? Having studied the Moon for over 40 years, I have a few places in mind.

I suggest a road trip that starts on the lunar near side, near the equator in Mare Tranquillitatis, and slowly travels north, up through Maria Serenitatis and Frigoris, ending in the highlands surrounding the North Pole. Along the way, we’ll stop to examine the geology and some historical landmarks important to the history of lunar exploration and development. As with all good road trips, this itinerary is only an outline. The real adventure unfolds along the way. Let’s transport our imaginations into the future and see what unfolds before us on the Moon.

We’ll begin our trip at the greatest historical landmark on the Moon —the Apollo 11 landing site . Of course, we can’t get close to the descent stage of the Lunar Module Eagle to read the plaque on its landing leg, but we still have a good view of the site from the viewing platform a few dozen meters away. Cameras in hand, we start snapping away. It is somewhat annoying to gaze at this site from a distance (fighting the understandable urge to go over and put the toppled-over American flag back up) but mankind’s first steps on another world should be preserved as long as possible. It’s startling to look at this place and realize that our first visit to the Moon was restricted to such a small area —the crew did not roam much farther from the Eagle than the outline of a baseball diamond. But here is where the future began.

Moving on, we encounter the vast helium-3 mining fields of Tranquillitatis . From the Apollo samples, we found that the highest concentration of this gas correlated with the finest fraction of dust from the highest titanium content mare regolith. Thus, the largest prospect for that rare gas is here in Mare Tranquillitatis, where we find the highest titanium lava flows. However, the richness of an “ore deposit” is relative, as one realizes that about 35 cubic meters of regolith (about 50 metric tons) must be processed to extract a single kilogram of helium-3. But that single kilogram can produce 19 megawatt-years of electrical energy on Earth. The mining process barely registers on our consciousness from afar and as we draw closer we see why —the mining drones only plow and turn over the mare regolith, actually smoothing out the cratered surface, rather than scarring the landscape with deep pits. An open-pit mine on the Moon comparable in size to the Bingham Canyon copper pit in Utah wouldn’t even be visible from the Earth, even through the most powerful telescopes.

Passing northwards, we stop to examine several interesting volcanic features of Mare Tranquillitatis, including sinuous rilles (or lava channels) and small shield volcanoes. A most interesting feature is the large collapse pit of Mare Tranquillitatis (MTP) , about 20 km NE of the crater Sinas A. This pit, discovered from high-resolution images of the LRO orbiter back in 2010, leads to the largest underground cave found so far on the Moon. It wasn’t until we arrived on the Moon that we discovered that this was the entrance to an extended lava tube tunnel . Because this cave provides constant protection from the harsh thermal and radiation environment at the lunar surface, it has the potential to be a nearly perfect shelter for human habitation.

Crossing the boundary between Tranquillitatis and Serenitatis, we next visit the site of the last Apollo landing on the Moon, the Taurus-Littrow landing site of the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. Gene Cernan and Jack Schmitt spent three days covering this little valley from corner to corner. While they discovered many interesting things here, perhaps the most startling was the orange and black glass found at Shorty crater. After holding a sample in hand, they recognized large deposits of orange soil all around the rim of the crater and even saw it on the surface from orbit. These glasses are volcanic ash. They were created when hot, liquid rock under high pressure squirted into space quickly, where it cooled into spheres of glass during ballistic flight. They later landed back on the lunar surface, forming bedded deposits. These glasses contain volatile elements from deep within the lunar mantle and tell us much about both the early history of the Moon and its bulk composition. Some of these deposits contain fragments of the lunar mantle, ripped from the walls of the conduits that transported the magmas up to the lunar surface.

Continuing northward, we travel across the strange fractured floor of the crater Posidonius . This ancient feature has an unusual sinuous rille (lava channel) that runs partly between the wall and floor of the crater. Perhaps this relation indicates that hot lava eroded parts of a pre-existing debris deposit. The issue of lava eroding the surface of the Moon was controversial many years ago when it was proposed and remains so now. Lava channels are primarily constructional features, but sometimes, very hot lava can partly melt and remove pre-existing surfaces. The fractures and rilles of Posidonius are being studied to address this contentious issue. It is instructive to stand here and allow one’s eye to take in all the pieces of this geological puzzle.

As we move north out of Mare Serenitatis, we notice that the highlands take on an unusual, knobby texture, similar to that of the unit we saw back in Taurus-Littrow that the Apollo 17 crew called Sculptured Hills. They should look similar —this rolling landscape is all part of the same unit, an immense sheet of debris called the Alpes Formation , thrown out from the gigantic Imbrium basin (diameter ~1200 km), over 500 km west from this locality. Traveling further, we come across the unusual “paired craters” Atlas and Hercules , two impressive fractured floor craters with nice euphonious mythological names. Large crater “pairs” occur all over the Moon and also on Earth. They do not appear to be simultaneous double-impacts, as they typically possess no septum ridges between them, as many secondary craters do. However, the close spacing of large, comparably sized craters so often seems to defy random chance. Perhaps these craters form by the collision of mutually orbiting asteroid twins, possibly more common among the Earth-crossing objects than had been thought.

It is instructive to see this undisturbed historical record, so unlike our Earth where much of the record has been lost by erosion and an active, ongoing geologic history. Fortunately, the Moon serves as a template, a Rosetta Stone for our understanding of the solar and impact history of the Earth. We’ve now begun our traverse into the highlands terrain of the polar region, having passed through Mare Frigoris, the most northerly mare deposit, a monotonously flat and featureless terrain. Passing crater after crater, we slowly cross the rugged terrain, happily finding that it’s not as difficult to travel over as we’d envisioned from earlier views of the area from orbit, and as we’d seen it in pictures. The terrain is all quite smooth —gentle, rolling hills as far as the eye can see.

As the lunar day ends and the surface cools, we can use our infrared sensors to detect the presence of water molecules on the soil . Where does this water come from? Years after its discovery, this is still debated. Perhaps the water is made from solar wind protons that reduce metal oxides in the soil. Or, we may be seeing the beginning of the migration of cometary water towards the pole. In any event, there is much too little here to be of practical use; only in the deep, cold traps of the polar wastes do we find massive accumulations of water, gradually added molecule by molecule over hundreds of millions of years.

As we approach the dark regions near the North Pole, the appearance of the sun circling around the horizon is a powerful image —never rising or setting at the poles, it continually skims the horizon on its roundabout path. At our final stop, we’re treated to breathtaking views of the largest mining operation of all. We watch as robotic diggers and haulers, working deep within the crater, process polar soil to extract water. Hundreds of tons of water are mined and stored each day. This water has many uses —as life support for residents of the lunar base near Peary crater, and as shielding to protect the human crews that go out to explore various regions of the Moon. Most importantly, the water is sent to local cracking plants, where it is broken down into its constituent hydrogen and oxygen atoms, which are then frozen into liquid form to create rocket propellant. This valuable, locally obtained rocket propellant fuels vehicles throughout cislunar space. It allows us not only to come and go on the Moon at will, but also to conduct routine operations between Earth and Moon, and to fuel missions to other planets being conducted by many nations.

Mining of lunar volatiles drives the economic engine of cislunar space. Just as on Earth, major industry on the Moon spawns the necessary supporting infrastructure, which in turn, also profits. And of course, we’ll pack up and bring home all the souvenirs we’ve found on our 2,730 km (1,700 mile) road trip on the Moon. Future road trips will certainly follow. You can begin planning your own route by using this interactive map of the Moon .

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Paul D. Spudis | READ MORE

Paul D. Spudis (1952-2018) was a senior staff scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, Texas, and a prolific author on the subject of the moon. His books include The Value of the Moon: How to Explore, Live, and Prosper in Space Using the Moon's Resources .

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• NEWS FEATURE
• 11 May 2022

These six countries are about to go to the Moon — here’s why

• John Pickrell

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An unprecedented number of nations are trying to get to the Moon in the next year. Credit: NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio

The Moon will be one of the most popular destinations in the Solar System in the next year. No fewer than seven missions are headed there from India, Japan, Russia, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates and the United States, along with several companies.

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Nature 605 , 208-211 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-01252-7

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NASA is set to return to the moon. Here are 4 reasons to go back

Scott Neuman

Astronaut Charlie M. Duke Jr., lunar module pilot of the Apollo 16 lunar landing mission, is photographed collecting lunar samples during the first Apollo 16 extravehicular activity at the Descartes landing site. John W. Young/NASA hide caption

Astronaut Charlie M. Duke Jr., lunar module pilot of the Apollo 16 lunar landing mission, is photographed collecting lunar samples during the first Apollo 16 extravehicular activity at the Descartes landing site.

President John F. Kennedy delivered a famous speech in 1962 outlining his administration's challenge to land Americans on the moon. "We choose to go to the moon," he declared, not because it is easy, but because it is hard.

As difficult a technological feat as the Apollo moon program proved, within seven years NASA had met Kennedy's challenge and ultimately sent a dozen astronauts to the surface on six missions between 1969 and 1972 at a cost of about $25 billion — roughly $250 billion in today's dollars.

Artemis: NASA's New Chapter In Space

Sixty years after Kennedy's speech, NASA is again getting ready to send humans to the moon . Proving that rocket science is still hard, NASA will be making a third attempt on Wednesday to launch the uncrewed Artemis I after two previous launches were scrubbed due to technical issues. Once it finally gets off the ground, the mission will be the first test flight of the hardware that will be used to send astronauts in the next few years.

No doubt, many people are wondering: Why go back?

There's a lot of science to be done on the moon

The rock samples brought back by Apollo astronauts decades ago taught scientists a lot about the geologic history of Earth and the moon .

What can be gathered by today's astronauts could tell us even more, says David Kring, a lunar geologist at the Center for Lunar Science & Exploration in Houston, Texas.

It's easier to set down a spacecraft near the moon's equator, so that's where all six Apollo landings occurred. But now, NASA has more ambitious aims.

In August, just ahead of the first launch attempt, NASA announced 13 possible landing sites , each in the south pole region, where water ice has been confirmed deep inside craters that never see sunlight. A crewed lunar flyby, Artemis II, is anticipated for 2024. And the first crewed landing, Artemis III, could come as early as 2025.

A rendering of 13 candidate landing regions for Artemis III. Each region is approximately 9.3 miles by 9.3 miles. A landing site is a location within those regions with an approximate 328-foot radius. NASA hide caption

A rendering of 13 candidate landing regions for Artemis III. Each region is approximately 9.3 miles by 9.3 miles. A landing site is a location within those regions with an approximate 328-foot radius.

The sites "are some of the best places to go for lunar geology and understanding lunar ice and sampling lunar ice," says Bethany Ehlmann, associate director of the Keck Institute for Space Studies at the California Institute of Technology.

The Artemis Moon mission moves NASA into new era of space exploration

Kring calls the lunar south pole region "absolutely extraordinary geologic terrain."

"If you really want to understand the origin of the evolution of the solar system, there is no better place ... to go [than] the moon," Kring says. Because the moon has never had an atmosphere or flowing water, it is not subject to weathering and erosion and has thus preserved evidence of its origin, he says.

As technology has steadily improved in the decades since Apollo, the level of detail on the moon's surface revealed by such probes as the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter "is so extraordinary that we've already identified rocks on the lunar surface that we want the astronauts to collect," Kring says.

Illustration of SpaceX Starship human lander design that will carry the first Artemis astronauts to the surface of the moon. SpaceX hide caption

Illustration of SpaceX Starship human lander design that will carry the first Artemis astronauts to the surface of the moon.

Having astronaut boots on the moon has other advantages, too, says Craig Hardgrove, an associate professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University. He considers himself "a huge fan of robotic exploration," but nonetheless acknowledges that rovers and landers are limited by the scientific instruments they carry with them. They also have a harder time capturing as much data on the detailed geologic context and landscape as an astronaut trained in geology can.

Humans, by contrast, "are able to collect a large number of samples much quicker than robots," says Hardgrove, who is principal investigator of the Lunar Polar Hydrogen Mapper ( LunaH-Map ) mission, set to launch aboard the Artemis I rocket. The shoebox-size probe aims to pinpoint the location of polar ice deposits.

With astronauts selecting the best samples and bringing them home, laboratories and universities can examine them with a wider range of sophisticated tools, he says. "If we can bring them back to Earth, I think we have a much better shot at answering even more questions than we can if we're limited to rovers."

It's a stepping stone to Mars

Mars is at least 200 times farther from Earth than the moon, which means an enormous challenge in keeping astronauts safe from such things as radiation exposure, Hardgrove says.

"The launch windows to get to Mars are once every two years," he says. "So, we would be thinking about keeping our astronauts on the surface of Mars for a long period of time. I personally feel like we would be doing them a service and everyone a service if we test out all these technologies on the moon first."

This image of the parachute that helped deliver NASA's Perseverance Mars rover to the Martian surface was taken by the rover's Mastcam-Z instrument in April. NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS hide caption

This image of the parachute that helped deliver NASA's Perseverance Mars rover to the Martian surface was taken by the rover's Mastcam-Z instrument in April.

Apollo was mostly about beating the Soviet Union to the moon. It succeeded, but there was no long-term plan to create a sustainable human presence there.

Artemis could change that, says Clive Neal, a professor of civil and environmental engineering and Earth sciences at the University of Notre Dame. He's especially keen to see a gradual shift toward a permanent human presence on the moon.

Given that SpaceX, a commercial venture, has been chosen to provide the vehicle that will land Artemis astronauts on the lunar surface, that prospect may not be as far off as once thought.

"We need to build an infrastructure that's going to say, 'OK, we're going to have human permanence on the moon and transition to commercial operations there in the future,'" Neal says. "And we can have a blueprint then at the moon of how to do these things sustainably that can be applied to more distant destinations."

It could spur new technologies

Dozens of new technologies created to go into space and to the moon have also brought substantial benefits to people on Earth — spawning everything from hand-held computers to insulin pumps and freeze-dried food.

Artemis could spark similar innovations.

The core technology used in dialysis machines was first developed for NASA. Science Photo Library/Getty Images hide caption

A 2013 study commissioned by NASA estimates that commercial products emerging from the space agency's research return between $100 million and $1 billion annually to the U.S. economy. Many of those "spinoffs" had their origin in the Apollo program.

The Apollo Guidance Computer , for example, was a technological marvel of its day. It was an early demonstration of digital fly-by-wire technology that is used in modern passenger jets and military aircraft.

The Apollo 11 Moon Landing, 50 Years Later

Space spinoffs: the technology to reach the moon was put to use back on earth.

"We're still reaping the rewards of miniaturization of electronics that happened during Apollo," Neal says. "Think about mobile phones. This is a technology that maybe would not have happened without Apollo."

New flame-retardant fabrics first developed for spacesuits, to withstand very high temperatures and still remain lightweight, are found today in clothing to protect firefighters around the country.

A "super insulation" developed for NASA in the 1960s can now be "found hidden inside the walls and roofs of buildings, in cryogenic tanks and MRI machines, in winter gear, and in cases for electronic devices, among other applications," according to NASA.

It has the potential to inspire a generation of engineers and scientists

It's often said that the Apollo moonshot inspired thousands of new engineers and scientists. While numbers are impossible to quantify, according to a 2009 survey of 800 researchers , "the Moon landings deserve credit for motivating a large fraction of today's scientists ... who have published in Nature in the past three years."

Workers prepare the Psyche spacecraft inside a clean room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., in April. After a delay, Psyche, which will enter orbit in space around an asteroid, is expected to launch next year. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Workers prepare the Psyche spacecraft inside a clean room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., in April. After a delay, Psyche, which will enter orbit in space around an asteroid, is expected to launch next year.

With Artemis, "we're going to get nearly live video from the surface of the moon and people are going to start thinking about the moon as a real place," Hardgrove, of ASU, says.

"I think it can absolutely be inspirational, hopefully not just for people like me, but [also] people who may not be thinking about careers in space exploration or engineering," he says.

9 Phenomena NASA Astronauts Will Encounter at Moon’s South Pole

NASA’s Artemis campaign will send the first woman and the first person of color to the Moon’s south polar region, marking humanity’s first return to the lunar surface in more than 50 years.

Here are some out-of-this-world phenomena Artemis astronauts will experience:

1. A Hovering Sun and Giant Shadows

Near the Moon’s South Pole, astronauts will see dramatic shadows that are 25 to 50 times longer than the objects casting them. Why? Because the Sun strikes the surface there at a low angle, hanging just a few degrees above the horizon. As a result, astronauts won’t see the Sun rise and set. Instead, they’ll watch it hover near the horizon as it moves horizontally across the sky.

2. Sticky, Razor-Sharp Dust ...

The lunar dust, called regolith, that coats the Moon’s surface looks fine and soft like baking powder. But looks can be deceiving. Lunar regolith is formed when meteoroids hit the Moon’s surface, melting and shattering rocks into tiny, sharp pieces. The Moon doesn’t have moving water or wind to smooth out the regolith grains, so they stay sharp and scratchy, posing a risk to astronauts and their equipment.

3. ... That’s Charged with Static Electricity

Because the Moon has no atmosphere to speak of, its surface is exposed to plasma and radiation from the Sun. As a result, static electricity builds up on the surface, as it does when you shuffle your feet against a carpeted floor. When you then touch something, you transfer that charge via a small shock. On the Moon, this transfer can short-circuit electronics. Moon dust also can make its way into astronaut living quarters, as the static electricity causes it to easily stick to spacesuits. NASA has developed methods to keep the dust at bay using resistant textiles, filters, and a shield that employs an electric field to remove dust from surfaces.

4. A New Sense of Lightness

Artemis moonwalkers will have a bounce to their step as they traverse the lunar surface. This is because gravity won’t pull them down as forcefully as it does on Earth. The Moon is only a quarter of Earth’s size, with six times less gravity. Simple activities, like swinging a rock hammer to chip off samples, will feel different. While a hammer will feel lighter to hold, its inertia won’t change, leading to a strange sensation for astronauts. Lower gravity has perks, too. Astronauts won’t be weighed down by their hefty spacesuits as much as they would be on Earth. Plus, bouncing on the Moon is just plain fun.

5. A Waxing Crescent … Earth?

When Artemis astronauts look at the sky from the Moon, they’ll see their home planet shining back at them. Just like Earthlings see different phases of the Moon throughout a month, astronauts will see an ever-shifting Earth. Earth phases occur opposite to Moon phases: When Earth experiences a new Moon, a full Earth is visible from the Moon.

6. An Itty-Bitty Horizon 

Because the Moon is smaller than Earth, its horizon will look shorter and closer. To someone standing on a level Earth surface, the horizon is 3 miles away, but to astronauts on the Moon, it’ll be only 1.5 miles away, making their surroundings seem confined.

7. Out-of-This-World Temperatures

Because sunlight at the Moon’s South Pole skims the surface horizontally, it brushes crater rims, but doesn’t always reach their floors. Some deep craters haven’t seen the light of day for billions of years, so temperatures there can dip to minus 334 F. That’s nearly three times colder than the lowest temperature recorded in Antarctica. At the other extreme, areas in direct sunlight, such as crater rims, can reach temperatures of 130 F.

8. An Inky-Black Sky

The Moon, unlike Earth, doesn’t have a thick atmosphere to scatter blue light, so the daytime sky is black. Astronauts will see a stark contrast between the dark sky and the bright ground.

9. A Rugged Terrain 

Artemis moonwalkers will find a rugged landscape that takes skill to traverse. The Moon has mountains, valleys, and canyons, but its most notable feature for astronauts on the surface may be its millions of craters. Near the South Pole, gaping craters and long shadows will make it difficult for astronauts to navigate. But, with training and special gear, astronauts will be prepared to meet the challenge.

By Avery Truman

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

Related Terms

• Earth's Moon
• Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate
• Humans in Space
• NASA Directorates
• Planetary Science Division
• Science Mission Directorate
• The Solar System

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- Apollo’s Legacy Is NASA’s Future -

NASA has been discussing concepts for human lunar exploration since the Apollo flights ended. In this 1995 artist’s concept, a lunar mining operation harvests oxygen from the lunar soil in Mare Serenatatis, a few kilometers from the Apollo 17 landing site. Image Credit: SAIC/Pat Rawlings

The Apollo lunar flights may have ended in 1972, but the moon has remained of great interest to NASA and scientists around the world. “Apollo” invariably stands near the top of all search queries on NASA’s public website. NASA has sent more than 500 Apollo lunar samples in recent years to scientists around the world for ongoing analysis. Each year a handful of new scientific papers offer insights and updates to what we’ve learned about the moon from these samples.

The program has even become a cultural benchmark. How many times have you heard someone ask, “If they can send a man to the moon, why can’t they . . . “?

In the half-century since people visited the Moon, NASA has continued to push the boundaries of knowledge to deliver on the promise of American ingenuity and leadership in space. And NASA will continue that work by moving forward to the Moon with astronauts landing on the lunar South Pole by 2024.

NASA is implementing the President’s Space Policy Directive-1 to “lead an innovative and sustainable program of exploration with commercial and international partners to enable human expansion across the solar system.”

NASA stands on the verge of commercializing low-Earth orbit. These experiences and partnerships will enable NASA to go back to the Moon in 2024 – this time to stay -- with the U.S. leading a coalition of nations and industry:

• NASA's ambitious Commercial Resupply enables American companies to resupply the International Space Station
• NASA’s Commercial Crew Program will return spaceflight launches to U.S. soil, providing safe, reliable, and cost-effective access to low-Earth orbit and the Space Station.
• NASA’s backbone for deep space exploration is the biggest rocket ever built, the Space Launch System (SLS), the Orion spacecraft and the Gateway lunar command module. With its partners, NASA will use the Gateway lunar command module orbiting the Moon as a staging point for missions that allow astronauts to explore more parts of the lunar surface than ever before.

NASA is going to the Moon with commercial and international partners to explore faster and explore more together. This work will bring new knowledge and opportunities and inspire the next generation. In going to the Moon, NASA is laying the foundation that will eventually enable human exploration of Mars. The Moon will provide a proving ground to test technologies and resources that will take humans to Mars and beyond, including building a sustainable, reusable architecture.

The Apollo lunar flights ended in 1972, but the Moon remains of great interest to NASA and the world. When we return to the Moon, we will be building upon the work of the hundreds of thousands of people who worked on Apollo and have since advanced human spaceflight. As Isaac Newton wrote in the 17th century, "If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."

NASA’s work at the Moon, which is pressing forward right now, is preparing us for the next giant leap : challenging missions to Mars and other deep-space destinations. As we approach the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 in July 2019, NASA is moving forward to the Moon and on to Mars – and wants the world to come along.