The year 2023 turned out to be a big year for lunar science. India’s Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft landed near the moon’s south pole, a huge achievement for a country relatively new to space travel, especially after the Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft crashed in 2019.
At the same time, NASA is preparing for a large number of moon-related missions, including the Artemis program. In 2023, the agency gained nine signatories to the Artemis Accords, an international agreement for peaceful space exploration, for a total of 32 countries signed to date.
As Mariel Borowitz of Georgia Tech explains, the US now has widespread, bipartisan political support for space travel – for the first time since the 1970s – and returning missions to the moon are the first natural target.
Here are five stories The Conversation US has published this past year about lunar exploration, including why people want to return to the moon, what Chandrayaan-3 discovered on its first foray across the lunar surface, and the ever-growing problem of lunar space debris.
1. Why shoot for the moon?
Missions to the moon offer potential benefits for a variety of sectors, including commercial, military and geopolitical sectors.
“Since humans last left the moon in 1972, many have dreamed of the days when humans would return. But for decades, these efforts ran into political roadblocks,” Borowitz wrote. “This time, the United States’ plans to return to the moon are likely to succeed – it has the cross-sector support and strategic importance to ensure continuity even in politically challenging times.”
While some of these potential applications are incredibly remote – from mining resources on the moon to sending military satellites into orbit around the moon – in the near term, missions to the moon will help inform scientists and stakeholders about future possibilities.
Read more: Returning to the moon could benefit commercial, military and political sectors – explains a space policy expert
2. Search for sulfur
India’s Chandrayaan-3 lander landed on the lunar surface in late August 2023, just a few kilometers away from the moon’s south pole.
His rover, named Pragyan, took measurements of the moon’s surface and discovered that the soil near the south pole contains a surprise: sulfur.
As Jeffrey Gillis-Davis, a physicist at Washington University in St. Louis, wrote, future moon missions or a future moon base could use lunar sulfur as an ingredient in everything from fuel and fertilizer to concrete.
Read more: Chandrayaan-3’s sulfur measurements open doors to lunar science and exploration
3. Water in ice
But sulfur isn’t the only resource the moon’s south pole has to offer. Scientists have been predicting for years that the moon’s south pole may contain water in the form of ice. And Chandrayaan-3’s sulfur discovery gives scientists more insight into how and how recently ice formed on the surface.
Comets or volcanic activity could have brought water to the moon years ago. If volcanic activity is the culprit for the appearance of water, scientists would also expect sulfur to be found at higher levels, wrote Paul Hayne, an assistant professor of astrophysical and planetary sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder.
A host of future missions to the moon, including NASA’s VIPER mission scheduled for 2024, will continue to explore where ice might be hiding on the moon.
Read more: Scientists suspect ice is hidden on the moon, and a host of missions from the US and abroad are looking for it
4. Moon debris
With all lunar missions, both current and upcoming, some experts have raised concerns about the increase in space debris in “cislunar space” – or the space between Earth and the moon and around the moon.
NASA currently keeps no track of the space junk left behind during its missions, and this lack of oversight worries many people.
One team from the University of Arizona has begun creating a catalog of the debris left in this room. Team members started by identifying a few large objects, and as their methods improved, they were able to see objects as small as a cereal box. The team hopes that this work will one day improve the sustainability of future lunar missions.
“While there is still a long way to go, these efforts are intended to ultimately form the basis for a catalog that will help lead to safer, more sustainable use of cislunar orbital space as humanity begins its expansion beyond Earth,” writes Vishnu. Reddy, professor of planetary sciences at the University of Arizona.
Read more: More lunar missions means more space junk around the moon – two scientists create a catalog to track the trash
5. Future flyers
Earlier this year, NASA announced who will form the crew of their Artemis II mission. Artemis II will fly by the moon in late 2024, testing technology and equipment planned for use in future missions. It will also be the first time in more than 50 years that humans have been close to the moon’s surface.