Lunar Orbiter captures splendid view of possible Artemis 3 landing site

Last year, NASA identified 13 candidate regions near the lunar South Pole to send astronauts back to the Moon. One was the Malapert massif region, which formed about four billion years ago and is the "largest and oldest impact basin on the Moon," the Center for Lunar Science and Exploration said in a study.

According to the Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute, "the south pole occurs amid several mountains, called massifs on the Moon. Those massifs may have been created by the impact event that produced the 2,500 km diameter South Pole-Aitken basin, the largest and oldest impact basin on the Moon".

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has now released a new image of the Malapert massif, which is stunning. According to Mark Robinson, principal investigator with the LROC project at Arizona State University, LROC shuttered the view on March 3, 2023, when the spacecraft was about 106 miles (170 kilometers) beyond the Shackleton crater. In the image, the Artemis 3 candidate landing region is partially visible.

Light and communications availability make the Malapert region a favorable relocation site.

The image shows a relatively flat area above the "5000". Robinson pinpoints the place to be the heart of the Artemis 3 landing region. And the view from the summit could (which rises more than 16,400 feet (5,000 meters) above its base) is bound to be thrilling. But Robinson also wonders if it might be "too exciting."

According to the Center for Lunar Science and Exploration, the Malapert massif region, "affiliated with the South Pole-Aitken Basin, is an area of scientific interest that will serve as the first test of "robotic caravan driving and exploring capability which will be used extensively through the architecture". Light and communications availability also make the Malapert region a favorable relocation site.

"Several of the proposed sites within the regions are located among some of the oldest parts of the Moon, and together with the permanently shadowed regions, provide the opportunity to learn about the history of the Moon through previously unstudied lunar materials," Sarah Noble, Artemis lunar science lead for NASA’s Planetary Science Division, said in a release from August 2022.