Shackleton Crater
A specific crater at the Lunar South Pole targeted by Chinese robotic missions for base placement.
First Mentioned
9/27/2026, 4:40:37 AM
Last Updated
9/27/2026, 4:44:13 AM
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9/27/2026, 4:44:13 AM
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Wikipedia
View on WikipediaShackleton (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 such as water 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.
Web Search Results
- Shackleton Crater's Illuminated Rim & Shadowed Interior - NASA Science
NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University April 20, 2022 | | | --- | | Credit | NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University | | Language | english | Shackleton Crater is an impact crater that lies at the lunar South Pole. While peaks along the crater's rim are exposed to almost continual sunlight, the interior is perpetually in shadow. This is because the Moon is only slightly tilted on its axis, at 1.5° compared to Earth, at 23.5°. If you were to stand at the Moon’s South Pole, the Sun would skim the horizon all year long, never fully rising or setting. Three points on the crater’s rim remain collectively sunlit for more than 90% of the year due to this tilt. [...] With the Sun at such a low angle, it can never reach the floors of some deep craters. Places the Sun never reaches are known as permanently shadowed regions (PSRs). PSRs like Shackleton crater are thought to hold water ice and other materials that turn easily into gas because these regions are so cold and dark that gas molecules that make their way into these regions freeze onto the surface. If significant water ice deposits are confirmed to exist in PSRs, they could be used as a resource for future human exploration. Layers of ices in PSRs, like Shackleton Crater, may also hold records of what has been happening in the lunar environment for long periods of time. [...] article 1 day ago Shannon Lucid’s Record-Setting Mission Aboard Mir 2 min read ### Shannon Lucid’s Record-Setting Mission Aboard Mir article 2 days ago ### Highlights La NASA anuncia la cobertura de la misión lunar Artemis II 11 min read ### La NASA anuncia la cobertura de la misión lunar Artemis II article 6 months ago Agenda diaria de la misión a la Luna de Artemis II de la NASA 15 min read ### Agenda diaria de la misión a la Luna de Artemis II de la NASA article 7 months ago La NASA refuerza Artemis: añade una misión y perfecciona su arquitectura general 6 min read ### La NASA refuerza Artemis: añade una misión y perfecciona su arquitectura general article 7 months ago # Shackleton Crater’s Illuminated Rim & Shadowed Interior NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University
- Shackleton crater - For All Mankind Wiki - Fandom
Shackleton is an impact crater at the lunar south pole. The Moon's rotational axis passes through the crater, just a few kilometers from its center.
- Shackleton (crater) - Wikipedia
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 "Cold trap (astronomy)") that may capture and freeze volatiles "Volatile (astrogeology)") such as water 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. ## Geography [...] ### Naming This crater is named after Ernest Shackleton, an Anglo-Irish explorer of Antarctica from 1901 until his death in 1922. The name was officially adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1994. Nearby craters of note include Shoemaker "Shoemaker (lunar crater)"), Haworth "Haworth (crater)"), de Gerlache "De Gerlache (crater)"), Sverdrup "Sverdrup (crater)"), Slater "Slater (crater)"), and Faustini "Faustini (crater)"). Somewhat farther away, on the eastern hemisphere of the lunar near side, are the larger craters Amundsen "Amundsen (crater)") and Scott "Scott (crater)"), named after two other early explorers of the Antarctic continent. ## Geology [...] A neutron spectrometer on board the Lunar Prospector spacecraft detected enhanced concentrations of hydrogen close to the northern and southern lunar poles, including the crater Shackleton. At the end of this mission in July 1999, the spacecraft was crashed into the nearby crater Shoemaker "Shoemaker (lunar crater)") in the hope of detecting from Earth-based telescopes an impact-generated plume containing water vapor. The impact event did not produce any detectable water vapor, and this may be an indication that the hydrogen is not in the form of hydrated minerals, or that the impact site did not contain any ice.
- The Scale of Shackleton Crater at the Lunar South Pole
Dr. David A. Kring (USRA - Dr. David A. Kring (USRA - Dr. David A. Kring (USRA - The Scale of Shackleton Crater at the Lunar South Pole Shackleton Crater is ~20 kilometers in diameter and a little over 4 kilometers deep. The crater is at the lunar South Pole and is a primary target for future lunar landings. Shackleton Crater may serve as a base for exploration of the South Pole-Aitken Basin, which is the oldest and largest impact basin on the Moon and possibly the largest impact basin in the solar system. The first slide contains an oblique view of Shackleton Crater and the Earth along the horizon as seen by Japan’s Kaguya spacecraft (© JAXA). That view was annotated by Dr. Dan Durda (Southwest Research Institute) who compared the size of Shackleton Crater with Arizona’s famous [...] The second slide compares the diameter of Shackleton Crater with the size of Houston, Texas. The highways that loop around Houston are shown along with nearby waterways and the NASA Johnson Space Center on Clear Lake. The radar image of Shackleton Crater in the background is provided courtesy of Dr. Donald Campbell (Cornell University) and Dr. Bruce Campbell (Smithsonian Institution). The third slide compares the depth of Shackleton Crater with the depth of the Grand Canyon as seen between Enfilade Point and Ives Point. Shackleton Crater is ~3 times deeper than the Grand Canyon. The landscape of the Moon is as dramatic, if not more dramatic, than that in our most treasured national parks. Dr. David A. Kring (USRA - [...] the size of Shackleton Crater with Arizona’s famous Barringer Meteorite Crater (aka Meteor Crater -
- Shackleton Crater: the key to extraterrestrial exploration
The amount of energy required to escape gravity to get from earth to earth orbit is the same amount required to get from earth orbit to the other side of the universe. Lunar ice will be the key. And the crater it’s sitting in at the moon’s south pole is called Shackleton – the name was assigned by the International Astronomical Union in 1994 when a team of amateur astronomers filled in lunar incognita sections of the lunar south pole not captured by previous probes. Bill Stone has developed many technologies and connections required to make his lunar vision a reality. When he began his project a few years ago, many in the space community were too taken aback to grasp his plan, but that is changing fast, with numerous outfits developing ways to approach the project. [...] # Could this crater fuel space exploration? > A vast crater at the southern point of the moon is believed to contain billions of tons of water ice - if mined it could be used to fuel exploration into new realms. Ernest Shackleton's 1914-17 Endurance Expedition speaks volumes about the man as a legend of polar exploration. Leading a team of 28 into the utter-unknown, having everything that could go wrong go very wrong, and braving the most brutal elements and hardships for nearly two years without connection to the rest of the world. Against all the odds, he crossed ice, roaring oceans and formidable mountains with the barest survival essentials and saved the lives of all 28 of the crew. [...] However, as I discovered to my delight a few years ago, Shackleton’s legend is set to be re-launched in the 21st-century. When researching a documentary series I produced in collaboration with NASA about future space travel, I came across a current-day deep cave explorer called Bill Stone who, unsurprisingly, cites Ernest Shackleton as his key inspiration. Stone told me that at the south pole of the moon is a vast crater that contains billions of tons of water ice.
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