Der größte Krater des Mondes birgt ein Geheimnis am Südpol, wo NASA-Astronauten landen werden

American astronauts who return to the moon’s surface in the years ahead for the first time in more than half a century will have the difficult and unprecedented task of setting the stage for a permanent human lunar settlement.

That may be the primary objective for spacefarers in NASA’s Artemis lunar program, but it won’t be their only one. Indeed, a team of researchers at the University of Arizona says that astronauts who land on the moon’s south pole have a unique opportunity to also collect some lunar samples that could reveal clues about the origins of Earth’s natural satellite.

New research published Oct. 8 in the journal Nature proposes a theory for how the moon’s crater-riddled far side came to be so different from the near side facing Earth. It just so happens, one of these larger impact craters, known as the South Pole-Aitken basin, is located in the region of the moon’s south pole where NASA could land astronauts as early as two years from now.