The Intuitive Machines lander is scheduled to touch down at a landing site close to the moon’s south pole — just as this issue of Global Auto Mobility is being published.
The spacecraft target is near a crater called Malapert A. The crater was named after Charles Malapert, a Belgian astronomer who lived from 1581 to 1630.
During NASA’s Apollo program, astronauts landed at various sites in the moon’s equatorial region, but the south pole has been intriguing to scientists because water ice is thought to be relatively abundant in permanently shadowed craters.
In 2022, NASA unveiled 13 areas, all located near the moon’s south pole, as potential landing sites for the agency’s upcoming Artemis III mission, which will land the first woman and the first person of color on the moon. That flight is expected to launch in September 2026.
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