NASA shares possible landing zones for Artemis III on the Moon

NASA has finally shared details about nine possible regions it could use as landing zones for Artemis III on the Moon. The Artemis III mission is one of the most exciting and highly anticipated space missions of the next decade, and so far NASA has been tight-lipped about where it plans to send the astronauts.

Until we wait Artemis III to launch in the near future is the latest Delay of Artemis II that likely means we’ll have to wait even longer for a third mission—many have been eagerly awaiting more details from NASA. The space agency has finally shared details about nine regions where it could land the next lunar lander.

All nine possible landing zones for Artemis III are located near the south pole of the Moon, which astronomers believe may hold interesting secrets such as moon beads holding crystallized water. This new list of possible candidates has been further refined from NASA’s original list and includes—in no particular order—the following areas:

• Peak near Cabeus B
• Haworth
• Massif Malapert
• Plateau of Mons Mouton
• Mons Mouton
• Nobile Rim 1
• Nobile Rim 2
• de Gerlach Rome 2
• Slater plain

It is now unknown whether NASA will make a decision on any specific region anytime soon. Thanks to SpaceX’s recent success in capture the Starship on its fifth trialArtemis missions don’t seem as out of reach as they did a few months ago when SpaceX barely kept the Starship from exploding during the first test flights.

While NASA doesn’t plan to use Starship for every part of the journey, SpaceX will play a major role in returning humans to the moon for the first time since the 1970s. NASA also reports that when selecting these possible landing areas for Artemis III, the team evaluated the capabilities of NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket, the Orion capsule, and the Starship HLS (Human Landing System) to ensure they would work in each region.