NASA lists 13 candidate landing sites for Artemis-3 manned mission
Click for original image.
NASA yesterday revealed its first preliminary list of thirteen candidate landing sites for the Artemis-3 manned mission, the first manned mission the agency wants to send to the Moon in 2026.
The image to the right, reduced, enhanced, and annotated by me to post here, shows these thirteen zones in blue. I have added the red dot to mark what I understand to be the planned landing zone of Viper, an unmanned rover that NASA hopes to launch by ’23 at the latest. From the press release:
The team identified regions that can fulfill the moonwalk objective by ensuring proximity to permanently shadowed regions, and also factored in other lighting conditions. All 13 regions contain sites that provide continuous access to sunlight throughout a 6.5-day period – the planned duration of the Artemis III surface mission. Access to sunlight is critical for a long-term stay at the Moon because it provides a power source and minimizes temperature variations.
Note that this mission will land a Starship with crew at this South Pole region. That spacecraft’s large payload capacity likely means that it could conceivably leave behind supplementary supplies for a follow-up next mission, and thus speed up development of the first lunar base.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Click for original image.
NASA yesterday revealed its first preliminary list of thirteen candidate landing sites for the Artemis-3 manned mission, the first manned mission the agency wants to send to the Moon in 2026.
The image to the right, reduced, enhanced, and annotated by me to post here, shows these thirteen zones in blue. I have added the red dot to mark what I understand to be the planned landing zone of Viper, an unmanned rover that NASA hopes to launch by ’23 at the latest. From the press release:
The team identified regions that can fulfill the moonwalk objective by ensuring proximity to permanently shadowed regions, and also factored in other lighting conditions. All 13 regions contain sites that provide continuous access to sunlight throughout a 6.5-day period – the planned duration of the Artemis III surface mission. Access to sunlight is critical for a long-term stay at the Moon because it provides a power source and minimizes temperature variations.
Note that this mission will land a Starship with crew at this South Pole region. That spacecraft’s large payload capacity likely means that it could conceivably leave behind supplementary supplies for a follow-up next mission, and thus speed up development of the first lunar base.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Hmmm.
Cart.
Horse.
Some assembly required.
Order is key.
They should wait to make sure the first one gets off the ground, before announcing these things.
sippin_bourbon: NASA management is playing a very clever PR game. They are pumping up the lunar landing, one way or the other. If SLS fails (very likely and something that NASA management is well aware of), they can use that PR to push for Starship/Superheavy to replace SLS and keep that lunar mission (and program) alive.
In other words, they are looking past SLS. Very wise.
Is this really 13 candidate landing sites? No, they never say that.
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-identifies-candidate-regions-for-landing-next-americans-on-moon/
Each landing region is 9.3 miles by 9.3 miles in area. Given 13 such regions, that is ~1100 square miles. So, they never gave a “landing site” (latitude and longitude).
But they also listed in the press release “a landing site is a location within those regions with an approximate 328-foot (100-meter) radius.” So, if we base the definition solely on that area of that radius, you end up with pi*100meter^2=31415square meters=.031415 square kilometers=.0121 square miles for a landing site.
1100 square miles regional area/.0121 square miles per landing site=~90000 landing sites.
The lunar South Pole itself should be the site. Put an upward facing bullseye camera there.
The first to the water hole, with the biggest well-aimed rocks, wins.
Hitchcock Explains the “McGuffin”
https://youtu.be/mNkPLuBjZRM
1:23
Wayne
Best use of the McGuffin is in the film Ronin, by Frankenheimer with Jean Reno and Deniro, Skarsgard, and a few other big names.
Even a small role with Sean Bean (and he does not die).
Love that film.
sippin_bourbon-
Thanks for that!
Reference– The Impending Moon Landing….
Excuse if I haven’t been paying close attention– nobody really thinks we’re actually physically going to the Moon in 2026, do they?
Paul Whiteman Orchestra
Peggy Healy on Vocals
“It’s Only A Paper Moon” (1933 )
https://youtu.be/JCUqKlldc8E
3:20
“It’s a Barnum and Bailey world, Just as phony as it can be,
But it wouldn’t be make-believe.
If you believed in me…”
wayne,
I totally caught the reference.
Oh yeah, we are totally going to the moon by 20XX…
Ralph Kramden
“One of these days, Alice….”
(Futurama Parody– Honeymooners)
https://youtu.be/0P84NiVGJsw
0:32