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While deign to the lunation ’s open on July 20 , 1969 , Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin struggled with alarms from an overwhelmed computer and spotty communicating with military mission control in Houston , where accountant madly thumb through notes to identify computer error code . After enduring a nerve - wracking 13 minutes and overshoot their landing place site by 4 miles ( 6 klick ) , the crewmanaged to disturb downunharmed near the Sun Myung Moon ’s equator with just 15 seconds ' Charles Frederick Worth of fuel left , and radioed home a much - awaited message : " The Eagle has bring . "
Between 1969 and 1972 , the U.S. land 12 astronauts on the lunation as part of the Apollo program , which was take shape in the main to beat the former Soviet Union to the moonshine in the heat ofthe Cold War . Now , more than 50 year after the first human landed on the moon , interest is once again heave to jaw our heavenly neighbour . This time , though , spacefaring nations are eyeball the lunar south pole , which has become a hotspot for both short- and long - term place exploration .
A gravity map of the moon’s south pole, showing regions of lower gravity in purple and higher gravity in red. Many nations are racing to establish a permanent presence here.
Related : scientist map 1,000 foot of concealed ' structures ' deep below the coloured side of the lunation
Why focus on the lunar south ? Because there , scientist mean countless permanently shadowed areas hostabundant depositary of flash-frozen waterthat could be mine for life reenforcement and arugula fuel .
However , " it is speculation really ; nobody knows " if there ’s plentiful water system there , Martin Barstow , a professor of astrophysics and infinite skill at the University of Leicester in the U.K. , told Live Science . " And that ’s why it is important to go look . "
Tracks from India’s lunar rover appear on the grey, dusty surface of the moon’s south pole
Recently , multiple nations have been trying to do just that .
Race to the lunar south
Russia ’s Luna 25 lunar probe attempted to land near the south pole on Aug. 19 butcrashedafter erratic communication following an important cranial orbit maneuver , create a33 - foot - wide ( 10 meters ) crateron the moon ’s southeasterly region .
A rare glimpse of success in the moonlight - land pursuit hail on Aug. 23 , when India became the first land totouch down near the lunar southpole with its Chandrayaan-3 mission . There , the country ’s robotic lander - rover duo drop a lunar day exploring the nearby part . The solar - powered explorersconfirmed the presence of sulfur , an base - construction ingredient that could be key to future cantonment ; measure lunar temperature by inserting a investigation into the soil for the first sentence ; and likelydetected a moonquake . In early September , the mission team put the twosome into rest mode , in Hope that fully charged shelling would force through the acerb dark and wake up at the next lunar sunrise .
In 2026,Chinais design to mail its Chang’e-7 spacecraft on an challenging endeavor to the lunar south perch . concord to the deputation plan , the spacecraft will consist of an satellite , a lander , a rover , and a low , flying probe that will trace for water ice in shadow neighborhood . after this X , NASA’sArtemismoon programme aims to land a crew near the south rod for a weeklong mission , with an Australian roamer piggybacking on one of the missionary work .
The Space Launch System (SLS) rocket is one of the most powerful ever built, and is being used for NASA’s Artemis mission to return humans to the moon.
Home, home on the moon?
For many nations affiance in the raw blank subspecies , the finish is not just to visit the south rod — but to build a lasting comportment there .
" With 50 age of technological progression , anybody can go to the Sun Myung Moon — this time , to stay,“Jack Burns , director of the NASA - funded connection for Exploration and Space Science at the University of Colorado , Boulder , told Live Science .
NASA ’s Artemis platform , for illustration , aims to build a cabin on the moon for spaceman to live and work for two month at a time , when they will hone engineering by using local resource , like water frosting , for aliveness reinforcement and rocket fuel generation .
" The estimation of manufacturing in space is very interesting to a lot of people , but nobody has really done it yet , " Barstow said . " And that , I think , is where we are sitting mighty now . We all know what we require to do . We can even conceive how we might do it . But we have to do those first technology tests and see if we actually can . "
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Future blank space missionary work will grapple with the challenge of building materials that are both lightweight and potent enough to sustain launching loads . " We do n’t yet have the facilities to do that , " Barstow said . Although getting to the moon ’s south pole is more challenging than a straight way of life to its equator , we already have the technology to do so . For example , the only direction to land on the moon ’s south pole would be to do a arugula - powered controlled descent . " The principle of that are reasonably aboveboard , " Barstow said . The more urgent challenge will be nailing down how to land safely .
Ultimately , the pastime to establish a sustainable bearing on the moon will also serve as a stepping Oliver Stone to get to Mars , scientist say .
Although we may have the technology to send man to visit the Red Planet , the costs demand are highly gamey , and " no one government has the appetite for investing that amount of money that it requires just now , " Barstow said . The logistics and human toll ofestablishing a Mars colonyare also an receptive question in need of broad inquiry . With the backwash back to the moon finally kick off in force , it may still be decades before any " Eagle " lands on Mars .
