NASA was recently directed to return to the Moon by 2024, an announcement first made in remarks given by Vice President Mike Pence at the 5th meeting of the National Space Council on March 26th. However this huge announcement and acceleration in schedule also came with another set of exciting details. He stated, the “lunar South Pole holds great scientific, economic, and strategic value” and that “when the first American astronauts return to the lunar surface, that they will take their first steps on the Moon’s South Pole.” But why the focus on the Moon’s south pole? He explored that as well, saying that we will “mine oxygen from lunar rocks” and “use nuclear power to extract water from the permanently shadowed craters of the South Pole”. These statements are exciting because they specifically include the use of in-situ resource utilization on the Moon, and select human landing locations near the South Pole due to proximity to those resources.
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