Shackleton Crater

Shackleton is an impact crater that lies at the lunar south pole. The peaks along the crater's rim are exposed to almost continual sunlight, while the interior is perpetually in shadow. The low-temperature interior of this crater functions as a cold trap that may capture and freeze volatiles shed during comet impacts on the Moon. Measurements by the Lunar Prospector spacecraft showed higher than normal amounts of hydrogen within the crater, which may indicate the presence of water ice. The crater is named after Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton.

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China’s Chang’e-7 moon mission to target Shackleton crater.

Moon Village would utilize 4-story-tall inflatable modules with 3D-printed protective shells made from lunar soil. The plan is to build near Shackleton Crater, which has near-constant sunlight on its rim and massive reservoirs of water-ice on its floor.

The first ShadowCam image from orbit reveals an area of the Moon that lies in total darkness — the permanently shadowed wall and floor of Shackleton Crater, in never-before-seen detail