Proposals for Sites Selection of Soft Landing on Lunar South Polar Region

Abstract

Human-beings have achieved lunar soft-landing on the surface of mid or low latitude regions. However no one has realized the exploration mission for the polar regions，especially for the south polar region，which attracts most attention because of its high scientific and technological value. In this article，the environment of lunar south polar region is analyzed，including the temperature condition，topography，illumination condition and earth visibility. Different from the regions with mid or low latitude，the temperature for lunar south polar region is very low（from 100 K to 160 K）. The topography is more complicated （more craters，greater slope，scattered stones）. The sun elevation angle is very small（which is between?1.54° and 1.54° for the south pole） and there are more shadows because of the high mountains. And there are long durations of earth-invisibility. All these environment conditions will much affect the lunar south polar region soft landing mission. According to the analysis of lunar south polar environment， some engineering suggestions for the lunar south polar region soft landing mission are proposed，which will provide reference for the implement of engineering .

Keywords

temperature / topography / illumination / earth-visibility / soft landing