Understanding future lunar landing sites Artemis 3 - area 007 and Chang’E 7: mapping the South-Eastern side of the Shackleton crater.

Kurzfassung

After more than 50 years, the future Artemis missions plan to send humans back to the Moon in 2025, highlighting once again the scientific importance to studying this celestial body. Around the same time frame, the CNSA-led Chang’e 7 robotic mission plans to send scientific instruments to perform remote sensing analysis of the Moon from orbit and in-situ measurements with a rover. Both of these missions aim to collect lunar samples and have chosen to target the south polar region due to its geological importance, potentially to find traces of volatile elements and water ice within the Permanently Shadowed Regions (PSR) for in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) [1]. Possible landing sites were determined for both the Artemis III and Chang’e 7 missions near the Shackleton crater, which is a well-preserved impact crater, of around 21 km in diameters and centrally located within the lunar south polar region [2]. Interestingly, this crater is characterized by its high rim, composed of multiple high peaks, creating continuous shadows on the crater floor and several other localized areas, which could serve as “cold traps” and preserve volatiles underneath the surface [3]. This study aims to assist future lunar missions in identifying potential sampling spots near the crater rim by producing a geomorphological map, spanning approximately 8.9 x 7.9 km between the Shackleton crater rim and the Artemis candidate landing site 007 (NASA 2020), which lies within the proposed Chang’e 7 landing site. The generated map represents the distribution of isolated boulders and their sampling potential during Extravehicular Activities (EVAs), which is determined by the boulder size, boulder density, geological potential and sampling safety. This study was performed on an area that has previously not been mapped, based on previous mapping techniques to help astronauts in the near future to determine the most ideal location to perform unassisted and assisted EVAs.