Nasa updated nine locations on the Moon, one of which Artemis III will land on

Return Progressing to the moon, step by step.

US Space Administration NASA updated at the end of October the places where its lunar rover Artemis III will land.

The flight will take place at the end of 2026 at the earliest.

All the places selected now are still near the south pole of the Moon, as in the previous listing.

In places, it has been taken into account that the lander is a space company SpaceX:n alus Starship. It has to go through many more test flights before the test flight. There are five behind.

The leading part of the Starship is the actual moon lander.

Nasa published by already in August 2022 from the list of 13 candidates places to land.

Now Nasa announced nine places. They have the same regions as the list that NASA published earlier.

All regions are near the Moon’s south pole. The region is scientifically interesting. The area has the oldest soil on the Moon.

There is also water there. In some places, the sun shines almost all the time.

The water is in deep craters, where the Sun never shines.

Selection required a lot of work, said Tamra George from NASA’s Johnson Space Center, says website SpaceNews.

He gave a presentation about places at a meeting of NASA’s Lunar Research Unit.

“Our number one goal is to land on the Moon safely and also return from the Moon safely.”

In selection the conditions of the surface of the landing site were carefully considered. The Starship landing craft is tall.

The Earth had to have direct visibility from the area. This is how radio messages travel from the Moon between the Earth and the Moon unhindered and quickly.

Artemis III:n two of the four astronauts land on the moon, a man and a woman. They spend approximately six Earth days on the surface of the Moon.

United States Yes, it’s there are returning to the Moon after a break of more than 50 yearswhen the flight takes place.

The last time man and the United States visited the Moon in December 1972 on the Apollo 17 flight.

Two astronauts then stepped on the moon, Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt. Among them, Schmitt is still alive.

NASA’s Artemis program really starts only after returning to the Moon.

Before the flight to the surface of the Moon, Artemis II will fly close to the Moon. The flight’s four astronauts are already training intensively.