What are the poles of the moon like?

Recently, ESA used the local image of the moon taken by "Wisdom 1" to spell out a high-definition map of the North Pole of the moon. The North Pole of the Moon is rich in light, water and ice resources, and it is a hot spot for manned moon landing activities in the future.

Ten years ago, the first lunar probe Smart- 1 of ESA took more than 30,000 images of local areas of the moon during its two-year mission. Recently, ESA has combined these local images into a large-area high-definition map of the lunar surface, including the above high-definition image of the lunar north pole.

Researchers from ESA said: The biggest challenge in assembling large pictures is the different lighting conditions when shooting these pictures. In addition, although the side facing away from the earth is usually called "the dark side of the moon", the moon can shine sunlight on the front and back during its revolution. In fact, due to the solar eclipse, the back of the moon gets more sunlight than the front of the moon. However, because the earth also reflects sunlight to the moon, the brightness of the front of the moon is brighter than that of the back.

Sunlight can also be received at the North Pole of the moon. Scientists speculate that some peaks at the poles of the moon can even be exposed to sunlight all the year round, and there is almost no night. These areas are called "eternal peaks". Because these areas can receive solar energy all year round and maintain a relatively stable temperature, the "forever peak" is very beneficial to space exploration and space immigration. However, the eternal peak on the moon is not absolutely "eternal", because the sun may be blocked by the earth during an eclipse, which can last for several hours, but eclipses do not happen often.

In contrast, areas that are rarely exposed to sunlight all the year round are called "eternal night pits", and the altitude of eternal night pits is often relatively low. Yongyekeng is also a place suitable for space exploration and space migration, because there is likely to be water ice in these areas. Both "eternal day peak" and "eternal night pit" exist on celestial bodies with low axis inclination, such as mercury and the moon.

The exploration from Europe's "Wisdom 1" to Japan's "Moon Goddess" shows that a mountain in peary Crater in the North Pole of the Moon can receive sunlight for 89% of the year, which is also determined as the region that receives sunlight for the longest time in a year. American Mini-SAR radar carried by Indian Moon Ship 1 measured that there were more than 40 impact craters containing water ice in the North Pole of the Moon, and it was estimated that the North Pole of the Moon contained at least 600 million tons of water ice. Sufficient light and water ice resources can provide great convenience for manned moon landing activities in the future, and it is one of the candidate sites for establishing moon bases in various countries.

As part of the Artemis project, NASA will return to the moon before 2024 and concentrate on exploring the polar regions of the moon, because there may be a lot of water there, which is a key resource.

1968, NASA announced five safe and barrier-free landing sites for the Apollo mission. Because they are going to the south pole of the moon, it will be more challenging for Artemis to land on the moon. Water will be one of the most valuable resources that explorers can get, and they can do many things with it.

Water is a magical barrier against radiation. When the sun shines on the south pole of the moon at a low angle, there may be permanent ice. These ice layers have existed for hundreds of millions of years. As early as 1998, NASA's mission to the moon found that the hydrogen content in the south pole of the moon increased significantly, which indicated that water was deposited there.

In 2009, NASA crashed a lunar crater observation and sensing satellite into the moon in search of water. On June 9, 2009, scientists sampled from the impact of 1 and found hydrogen, ammonia and methane, as well as metals such as sodium, mercury and silver. There may be many resources in the south pole of the moon for future explorers.

According to the latest research by NASA, these sediments are only a few thousand years old. In order to know the exact answer, NASA and other institutions are planning a series of tasks and experiments. In order to know whether there is enough water ice for astronauts, the European Space Agency plans to launch a lunar lander to the south pole of the moon. China's Chang 'e-4 lander and Yutu-2 lunar rover are currently exploring this area at the South Pole of the Moon. In 2020, South Korea will launch their 1 moon landing mission, which is called the Korean Pathfinder lunar orbiter.

An instrument made by NASA is called shadow camera, which will study the permanent shadow craters at the moon's poles. July 2009 1, 2065438, NASA selected 12 new scientific and technological products to send to the moon to help study the surface of the moon and prepare for the arrival of astronauts. As part of the Artemis project, the lunar rover can conduct field tests to find out the highest concentration of water and other useful chemicals. In the next decade, the moon will become busier.