Lunar south pole facts for kids

The Moon's south pole is at the center of this picture, on the edge of Shackleton Crater. This image was made by LROC (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) and ShadowCam.

The lunar south pole is the southernmost spot on the Moon. Scientists are very interested in it because of the water ice found in areas that are always in shadow. These shadowy spots are called cold traps. They are like time capsules, holding hydrogen, water ice, and other gases from when our Solar System first formed. The lunar north pole has far fewer of these special shadowed craters.

Geography of the South Pole

The full Moon with important features marked around its south pole.

This picture shows the lunar south pole region during summer. The south pole is on the edge of Shackleton crater. Other craters like Nobile and Malapert are also visible.

The Moon's south pole is located in the polar region, between 80°S and 90°S latitude. The Moon's spin axis has shifted a bit over billions of years. This shift means sunlight now reaches some areas that used to be dark. However, the south pole still has some spots that are always in shadow. It also has areas that are always lit by the Sun!

This region has many craters and huge basins, like the South Pole–Aitken basin. This basin is one of the Moon's biggest features. There are also tall mountains, such as Epsilon Peak, which is taller than any mountain on Earth. The average temperature at the south pole is about -13 °C (8 °F).

Craters Near the Pole

An aerial view of craters near the Moon's south pole, colored by their height.

The Moon's spin axis goes right through Shackleton Crater. Some other important craters close to the lunar south pole include de Gerlache, Sverdrup, Shoemaker, Faustini, Haworth, Nobile, and Cabeus.

Amazing Discoveries

Sunlight and Shadow

The lunar south pole has crater rims that are almost always lit by the Sun. But the inside of these craters are always in shadow. Scientists have studied how sunlight hits this area using detailed 3D models from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. The Moon's surface can also reflect tiny particles from the solar wind. These particles help scientists understand the Moon's surface and its magnetic fields.

Cold Traps and Water Ice

Cold traps are very important places at the lunar south pole. They might hold water ice and other frozen gases. This ice could have come from comets, meteorites, or even from the solar wind. Experiments and samples have confirmed that cold traps do contain ice. Scientists have also found a chemical called hydroxyl in these cold traps. Finding water and hydroxyl has led to new missions that use special cameras to look for ice at the Moon's poles. The ice stays frozen in these traps because of the Moon's temperature, which is affected by sunlight, heat from the Moon itself, and light from Earth.

Magnetic Areas

Some parts of the Moon's crust are magnetized. This is called a magnetic anomaly. Scientists think it might be from leftover metal from the giant impact that formed the South Pole–Aitken basin. However, maps haven't shown enough iron deep in the Moon's crust to fully explain this. This means the magnetic areas might be caused by something else. More research is needed to understand these magnetic spots.

Exploring the South Pole

Moon Missions

A map of the lunar south polar region (south of 80°S).

This map shows how steep the slopes are within 15 degrees of the Moon's south pole.

Many countries have sent orbiters to explore the lunar south pole region. Missions like the Lunar Orbiters, Clementine, Lunar Prospector, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, Kaguya, and Chandrayaan-1 all helped discover lunar water. NASA's LCROSS mission even found a lot of water in Cabeus crater. LCROSS purposely crashed into Cabeus, and the samples showed it contained almost 5% water!

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO)

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) was launched by NASA on June 18, 2009. It is still mapping the lunar south pole region today. This mission helps scientists figure out if the south pole has enough resources to support a permanent human base. LRO carries a special tool called the Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment. This tool measures heat and light to find out where water ice might be hidden on the surface.

LCROSS Mission

The Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) was a robotic spacecraft from NASA. Its main goal was to find out more about the hydrogen that had been detected at the Moon's poles. LCROSS was launched right after Chandrayaan-1 found water on the Moon. LCROSS's mission was to confirm if there was water in the form of ice in a crater that was always in shadow. It launched with the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and successfully confirmed water in the southern lunar crater Cabeus.

Moon Impact Probe (MIP)

The Moon Impact Probe (MIP) was built by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), India's space agency. It was released from ISRO's Chandrayaan-1 orbiter, which launched on October 22, 2008. The MIP separated from Chandrayaan-1 on November 14, 2008, and crashed as planned near the edge of Shackleton Crater. With this mission, India became the first country to make a hard landing or impact near the lunar South Pole.

Luna 25

Russia launched its Luna 25 lunar lander on August 10, 2023. Luna 25 traveled to the Moon and orbited it for several days. It was planned to land in the Moon's south polar region, near the crater Boguslawsky. However, Luna 25 had an "emergency situation" and lost communication. The mission was meant to test landing technology and carried scientific tools, including a robotic arm for soil samples.

Chandrayaan-3

India's Chandrayaan-3 (2023) was the first lunar mission to successfully land softly near the lunar south pole.

On August 23, 2023, India's Chandrayaan-3 made history by becoming the first lunar mission to achieve a soft landing near the lunar south pole. The mission included a lander and a rover to perform scientific experiments.

IM-1 Odysseus

The IM-1 Odysseus lander took about six days to travel from Earth to the Moon. It then orbited the Moon for about a day before landing on February 22, 2024. Odysseus aimed to land within the Malapert-A crater, which is about 300 kilometers (186 miles) from the lunar south pole. Odysseus became the first US spacecraft to land on the Moon in the 21st century.

EagleCam to Record Landing

A small camera called EagleCam was supposed to be released from the Odysseus lander just before landing to record the event. However, due to some software issues, it was not released during the landing. It was later ejected, but it didn't send back the pictures of the landing that were its main goal.

IM-2 Mission

Intuitive Machines's lunar lander IM-2 is planned to carry NASA experiments and other rovers to Mons Mouton. It is set to launch in February 2025 and land in March 2025. This mission will continue to explore the lunar south pole region.

Future Exploration and Observations

A geological map of the lunar south pole region.

The lunar south pole region is a very exciting place for future space missions and for building a lunar outpost. The permanently shadowed areas on the Moon might hold ice and other valuable minerals. These would be very important resources for future explorers. Also, the mountain peaks near the pole get sunlight for long periods. This means they could provide solar energy for a lunar base. With a base on the Moon, scientists could study water and other samples that date back to the beginning of our Solar System.

Scientists used a tool called LOLA (Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter) from NASA to create a detailed map of the Moon's surface. This data showed that some spots near the south pole, like Connecting Ridge, get sunlight for over 92% of the time. The longest periods of darkness in these spots were only 3 to 5 days.

The lunar south pole is also a great place for unique astronomical observations. Scientists might be able to study radio waves below 30 MHz there. The Chinese Longjiang microsatellites, launched in May 2018, orbited the Moon and observed these frequencies. Before Longjiang-2, no space observatory could study these radio waves because of interference from Earth. The lunar south pole has mountains and basins, like the south side of Malapert Mountain, that face away from Earth. This makes them ideal spots for a ground radio observatory to receive these signals.

Lunar Resources

The south polar region has plenty of solar power, oxygen, and metals. If a facility to process lunar resources were built near the south pole, it could use solar power to operate almost all the time. Elements found on the Moon's surface include hydrogen (H), oxygen (O), silicon (Si), iron (Fe), magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca), aluminium (Al), manganese (Mn), and titanium (Ti). Oxygen, iron, and silicon are among the most common, with oxygen making up about 45% of the Moon's surface by weight.

Future Plans

A simulated view of Earth from near Shackleton Crater, which looks like a thin lit rim.

Blue Origin plans a mission to the south polar region around 2024. Their Blue Moon lander uses technology similar to their New Shepard rocket. This mission aims to land equipment for a human base in a south polar crater.

NASA's Artemis program also plans to send several robotic landers and rovers (CLPS) to the south pole. This will prepare for the planned Artemis III mission, which will land astronauts there in the late 2020s.