In the two-way race between the US and China to put humans back on the moon, the moon’s south pole is considered the most prized place to land. The area is relatively resource-rich, filled with dark craters containing water ice and having near-constant exposure to sunlight around their respective rims—both desirable characteristics for lunar bases. The South Pole – the Aitken Basin – the moon’s largest and oldest impact structure – dominates the region. Located on the far side of the Moon, it is shielded from Earth’s radio chatter, making it an ideal location for ultra-sensitive astronomy observations.
But this promise comes with significant danger: compared to other landing sites, the South Polar region is more difficult to reach, and the craters are more treacherous. And without a lunar orbiting relay, the other side is cut off from communicating with Earth.
Still, the US has selected nine candidate sites there for a landing attempt set for 2028 as part of NASA’s Artemis program. But a new newspaper published yesterday in Natural astronomy strengthens the case that China is pursuing an easier first crewed landing site closer to the equator and on the near side of the moon, with a plan to put boots on the surface by 2030.
On supporting science journalism
If you like this article, please consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribes. By purchasing a subscription, you help secure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas that shape our world today.
Using data from US, Chinese, Indian and Japanese lunar missions, as well as archival observations from the ground-based Arecibo radio telescope, the authors argue that the Rimae Bode – a relatively flat area north of the equator on the moon’s Earth-facing side – is a prime location for China’s first moonwalk astronauts.
“Rimae Bode is a high-priority ‘sweet spot,'” said Jun Huang, a planetary geologist at the China University of Geosciences in Wuhan and co-author of the new study. “Think of it as a prime piece of lunar real estate: its location near the equator provides much flatter, safer terrain for landing, along with constant sunlight for power (during the lunar day) and a direct line of sight to Earth for easy communication.”
Jim Head, an emeritus professor at Brown University who helped select landing sites for NASA’s Apollo moon missions and trained astronauts for geological fieldwork, agrees that the region is a top candidate. He regularly collaborates with Chinese scientists developing the country’s lunar exploration program, but was not part of this study.
“Rimae Bode would be on my ‘short list of human lunar exploration landing sites,'” says Head, adding that the region was considered an Apollo mission destination. “More than 50 years after Apollo, the importance of the many compelling science objectives at Rimae Bode remains!”
Rimae Bode lies between the Mare Vaporum – a pool filled with dark, cooled lava – and the lighter, older and more robust central lunar highlands. “Scientifically, it’s like a geological ‘all you can eat buffet’ that the South Pole can’t offer,” says Huang.
He and his team identify five features of interest: a large, dark layer of glassy volcanic ash; a basalt plain called Sinus Aestuum; two basaltic terrains in the Rimae Bode itself – one of which is studded with volcanic trenches called grooves – and finally the surrounding highlands.
The paper outlines the region’s complex geology: the authors analyze its mineralogy and topography, as well as the distribution of craters across the landscape. The ash layer, for example, likely erupted billions of years ago from the lunar mantle, providing a unique window into lunar history.
Tiny glass beads in the ash are Rimae Bode’s “crown jewels,” Huang says—these “time capsules” could help reveal the moon’s mysterious interior. “By studying them, we can finally understand what the Moon is actually made of, deep down, and piece together the full story of how its volcanic activity evolved over time, transforming the Moon from a fiery, active world to the quiet neighbor we see today,” he says.
Orbital observations suggest that the ash may also “contain significant water resources,” said Clive Neal, a planetary scientist at the University of Notre Dame, who was not involved in the new study. Water is essential for providing life support in a lunar mission and for making rocket fuel. “And none of these deposits have been sampled before — another (potential) first for China.”
Water-rich minerals in the ash could mean that the moon’s mantle is wetter than scientists thought, says Neal. “But the biggest thing in this age of human exploration is the resource potential. Could we have an easier to get to human outpost at the equator instead of the poles?”
Based on their analysis, Huang and his co-authors propose four potential landing sites within the Rimae Bode; they also plot paths that Chinese astronauts can use to explore and study the surrounding terrain more safely. Huang’s favorite of the four is Landing Site 2 (LS2), a flat patch in Rimae Bode’s north that is within a few kilometers of several science targets. “LS2 is a scientific ‘triple threat’,” he says, giving the astronauts access to the volcanic glass beads, a massive lunar trench and “unique high-thorium materials that are key to understanding the chemical evolution of the Moon.”
Obtaining samples from Rimae Bode will allow comparisons with lunar material collected from other areas, says Head. The Apollo missions brought back a total of nearly 400 kilograms of material taken from mid to low latitudes on the near side of the moon, while China’s Chang’e 5 and Chang’e 6 robotic missions have returned smaller samples from the near and far sides of the moon, respectively.
If China makes a first crewed landing near the equator on the near side, it doesn’t mean that astronauts won’t later explore the moon’s south pole or other harder-to-reach places, Head says. China’s Chang’e 7 spacecraft, to be launched later this year, will land at the South Pole at the edge of Shackleton Crater, where it will search for water ice. And 2029’s Chang’e 8 mission is also designed to target the South Pole as a precursor to China’s manned base, called the International Lunar Research Station, which is planned in cooperation with Russia and other countries. The American Apollo missions followed a similar progression, progressing steadily in difficulty and achievement, Head says: “The Chinese follow a safer, sequential path, as was done in Apollo.”
Of course, much work remains before anyone goes to Rimae Bode. Huang and his co-authors are particularly eager for higher-resolution images of the region to better characterize its geology and measure how well astronauts could navigate the terrain — something that could come from a new lunar mapping satellite that China announced last year.
