NASA has imaged the south pole of the moon in stunning detail as scientists learn as much as possible about the shadow-filled region before the Artemis 3 mission carries astronauts there in the near future.
The images were gathered by a hypersensitive optical camera operated by NASA called ShadowCam. The instrument is carried around the moon by the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO) spacecraft, also known as Danuri, built by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI). The craft, which also carries five Korean science instruments, launched in August 2022 atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and entered lunar orbit in the following December when ShadowCam began imaging the moon.
