As NASA plans its return to the moon through its Artemis Program, the space agency says it wants to land astronauts on the lunar south pole to explore craters for possible water sources.
Through their exploration, astronauts are also looking for an ingredient necessary for creating rocket fuel in the shadowed areas of the moon, which could help with future deep space exploration, CBS News reported.
The first flight in the program, Artemis 1, will be an unpiloted mission to test the Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket as well as the Orion crew capsule that will one day carry astronauts.
The test flight is set for launch on Monday at 8:33 a.m. EDT and will last for 42-days.
The Artemis 2 mission is expected to launch by the end of 2024, being that the first flight goes well, and it will carry four astronauts on a loop around the moon and back to Earth.
After that, Artemis 3, which is set for 2025 or 2026, will carry astronauts to the surface of the moon, for the first time since 1972, near the lunar south pole. The mission would also put the first woman on the moon.
NASA announced earlier this month that 13 different landing sites have been selected within range of permanently shadowed craters or depressions where astronauts could explore for signs of ice. Any of the 13 could be where astronauts in Artemis 3 land.
In a statement, senior NASA planner Mark Kirasich shared that identifying the regions is just the next step to humans walking on the moon once again.
"Selecting these regions means we are one giant leap closer to returning humans to the Moon for the first time since Apollo," Kirasich said. "When we do, it will be unlike any mission that's come before as astronauts venture into dark areas previously unexplored by humans and lay the groundwork for future long-term stays."
Once astronauts are back on the moon, they will work to collect samples and carry out geological studies on the lunar surface. Beyond that, they will map the moon's southern region to learn about its origins and evolution.
Another goal from NASA is to create long-term support systems that would help with eventual flights to Mars.
Through their missions, Artemis astronauts will help NASA build a "blueprint for exploring the solar system," chief NASA exploration scientist Jacob Bleacher told CBS News.
"Lunar water ice is valuable from a scientific perspective and also as a resource, because from it we can extract oxygen and hydrogen for life support systems and fuel," Bleacher said.
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