National Academies names four priority non-polar crewed moon sites
A NASA-commissioned report names four non-polar sites for future crewed moon landings beyond Artemis.
what happened
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine released a report, commissioned by NASA, recommending four non-polar lunar sites for future crewed exploration beyond the Artemis south-pole missions: Bhabha Crater (far side, in the South Pole-Aitken Basin), Mons Hadley (near the Apollo 15 site), Orientale Basin, and the Aristarchus Plateau. The committee weighed sites against alignment with decadal-survey science, expansion of US exploration capability, and public inspiration, and also recommended NASA develop unpressurized rovers and continuous communication systems to support operations at these sites.
why it matters
Interstellar Mapping CEO Andrew Hazelton told Payload that non-polar sites "could meet many of the same objectives with potentially lower landing risk" if Artemis scheduling changes, and that the report's data points are useful even though NASA has not committed to acting on them. For CLPS landers, rover builders and other Artemis-era contractors, the report is an early signal of where NASA's post-south-pole crewed exploration map could point next, well ahead of any contract.
signal-to-noise
quick facts
- Companies
- NASA
- Category
- science
- Impact
- notable
- SNR
- 4 / 5
- Event date
- 2026-10-21
- Published
- 2026-10-22 17:29 UTC