Russian scientists have studied the lunar landing sites of the nearest NASA mission

The foot of the highest mountain was chosen as the best

What awaits American astronauts on the Moon who plan to land on the Earth’s satellite again in 2026, Russian scientists from the Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry named after. V.I. Vernadsky RAS (GEOKHI) and their colleagues from China and the USA. They assessed the geological structure of all proposed landing sites for the American lunar mission as part of the Artemis program. The results of the work were published in the journal Icarus.

Let us remind you that the last time the Americans landed their vehicle on the Moon was just a year ago. It was an automatic module "Odyssey", which, however, did not complete all the planned operations, since one of its supports broke during landing. It turns out that in the 21st century, only three missions from China (in 2013, 2019 and 2020), as well as two missions from India and Japan (in 2023 and 2024), can be considered 100% successful landings on the Moon.

The next unmanned launch of Americans to the Moon was planned for November 2024. The talk was about the VIPER lunar rover, which should precede a manned mission to the Moon under the Artemis program. But due to increased costs, the launch of VIPER was postponed to September 2025.

Like the previous device, VIPER is aimed at the region of the South Pole of the Moon, or more precisely, at the edge of the South Pole-Aitken Basin, the largest crater in the Solar System measuring 2400 by 2050 kilometers. Its depth reaches 8 kilometers. From the Earth, near the southern limb of the Moon, only part of this gigantic crater is visible, along the edges of which mountain ranges with wide plateaus are clearly visible.

According to the author of the work from GEOKHI, a researcher at the Laboratory of Comparative Planetology, Alexander Krasilnikov, during the preparation of their Artemis mission, the Americans selected 13 possible landing points for the device, and all of them are located on the edge (or in the area) of the South Pole-Aitken Basin.

However, the most advantageous location (for searching for volatile elements) has also been determined. This is the 11th “square” - the Mons Mouton massif.

– Why is this array interesting? - I ask the scientist.

– In addition to the fact that the South Pole of the Moon is, in principle, interesting because it contains water ice, which is preserved in eternally shadowed craters, the Mons Mouton massif, located to the west of the Nobile crater, is the oldest massif of the South Pole-Aitken Basin. Since this pool is the largest, it was able to “extract” the most deep and ancient material to the surface after the collision of a large asteroid with the Moon. And the delivery of this substance to Earth is one of the most important goals for research in this region.

Help "MK". Mount Mons Mouton is the highest mountain on the Moon, with a height of 6 kilometers. This region contains both shaded water ice traps and areas of high solar radiation.

– How far from Mons Mouton did we plan to land our Luna 25 (unfortunately, its landing in 2023 turned out to be too harsh)?

“Our spacecraft was supposed to land further north, in the region of 70 degrees south latitude, much further from the pole than the Americans plan to land their spacecraft.

– What tasks will VIPER have to solve in the area of ​​the South Pole of the Moon if it does fly in 2025, a year earlier than the manned Artemis mission?

– One of its main tasks is to find water ice. During the 100 days allotted to the device, it explores approximately 93 square kilometers of the surface, studying the soil with three instruments. The device will be equipped with a drill capable of penetrating to a depth of up to a meter, a neutron spectrometer to detect subsurface hydrogen and water ice, and an infrared spectrometer to analyze the mineral and dust composition.

—Won’t the mountainous terrain interfere with planting?

– The device is planned to be planted right on the top of the mountain, represented by a very wide and flat plateau. This will avoid problems with landing and moving the lunar rover. The information obtained by VIPER will help in the future to choose a place for landing a manned vehicle under the Artemis program.