Does China aim for a Lunar South Pole Base by 2029?

China aims to build a scientific research station in the south polar region of the moon and realize manned lunar exploration mission in about ten years, said a senior space official on Wednesday.

Zhang Kejian, head of the China National Space Administration, made the remarks at the opening ceremony of China's Space Day in Changsha, capital of central China's Hunan Province.

China will launch the Chang'e-5 lunar probe to collect and return lunar samples back to Earth at the end of 2019, Zhang said.

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High-priority Sites for Lunar Polar Volatiles

High-priority lunar landing sites for in situ and sample return studies of polar volatiles

Authors:

Lemelin et al

Abstract:

Our understanding of the Moon has advanced greatly over the last several decades thanks to analyses of Apollo samples and lunar meteorites, and recent lunar orbital missions. Notably, it is now thought that the lunar poles may be much more enriched in H2O and other volatile chemical species than the equatorial regions sampled during the Apollo missions. The equatorial regions sampled, themselves, contain more H2O than previously thought. A new lunar mission to a polar region is therefore of great interest; it could provide a measure of the sources and processes that deliver volatiles while also evaluating the potential in situ resource utilization value they may have for human exploration. In this study, we determine the optimal sites for studying lunar volatiles by conducting a quantitative GIS-based spatial analysis of multiple relevant datasets. The datasets include the locations of permanently shadowed regions, thermal analyses of the lunar surface, and hydrogen abundances. We provide maps of the lunar surface showing areas of high scientific interest, including five regions near the lunar north pole and seven regions near the lunar south pole that have the highest scientific potential according to rational search criteria. At two of these sites—a region we call the “Intercrater Polar Highlands” (IPH) near the north pole, and Amundsen crater near the south pole—we provide a more detailed assessment of landing sites, sample locations, and exploration strategies best suited for future human or robotic exploration missions.