Crater Plaskett sits very close to the Moon’s north pole. This means it’s bathed in eternal sunlight. This would provide plenty of solar energy for future explorers, and creates a predictable temperature – it’s only hot, not hot and cold. Nearby craters bathed in eternal darkness might contain large stores of water ice that could be used for air, fuel and drinking water.
Crater Plaskett might provide a good first step for exploration of the Solar System. It’s close enough that astronauts would still be able to see the Earth. Help could arrive within days, if necessary, and communications would be almost instantaneous. But it’s remote enough to help mission planners understand what would be involved for future, longer duration missions on the Moon, and eventually to Mars.
SMART-1 ended its mission on September 3, 2006, when it ran out of fuel and crashed into the lunar surface. Scientists will be studying its data and images for years.
Original Source: ESA News Release
Like a performer preparing for their big finale, a distant star is shedding its outer…
For a little over a month now, the Earth has been joined by a new…
Despite decades of study, black holes are still one of the most puzzling objects in…
74 million kilometres is a huge distance from which to observe something. But 74 million…
Astronomers have only been aware of fast radio bursts for about two decades. These are…
How do you weigh one of the largest objects in the entire universe? Very carefully,…