Stratigraphic cross-sections, geologic history, and provenance of material at the candidate landing sites of the Artemis missions

• Published in: Icarus (New York, N.Y. 1962) N.Y. 1962), 2024-09, Vol.420, p.116190, Article 116190
• Main Authors: Krasilnikov, A.S., Ivanov, M.A., Krasilnikov, S.S., Head, J.W.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Artemis mission landing sites; Crater ejecta; Geological cross-section; South pole of the moon; South pole-Aitken; The moon
• ISSN: 0019-1035; 1090-2643
• DOI: 10.1016/j.icarus.2024.116190

From the scientific perspective, Artemis lunar missions focus on the south circumpolar region (SCR) mainly to investigate the existence and abundance of volatiles and to explore and sample ancient lunar deposits. The volatile distribution is primarily related to the cold traps in permanently shadowed regions, while the availability of ancient material is due to the proximity to the early lunar ∼2300 km diameter South Pole-Aitken (SPA) impact basin. One of the critical factors for future missions will be determining the geological structure and provenance (sources) of material at each candidate landing site, which can be predicted utilizing three-dimensional stratigraphic reconstructions of geological map units and crater ejecta deposits. This type of reconstruction permits a better understanding of candidate material that can be collected and analyzed at each site, and a ranking of landing sites can be formulated on this basis. Here, we present reconstructed geological cross-sections at Artemis landing sites using our recent SCR geological map and numerical modelling of crater ejecta thicknesses and their sequence. •Thickness of stratigraphic units of proposed Artemis landing sites has estimated.•Geological cross-sections across all proposed Artemis sites have constructed.•Stratigraphy within the Artemis sites consists of three major subdivisions.•Some small craters can excavate ancient materials from below the young deposits.