NASA identified 13 candidate Artemis III landing regions near the lunar South Pole on 19 August 2022, each within six degrees of latitude of the pole and collectively covering a diverse set of geologic settings: Faustini Rim A, Peak Near Shackleton, Connecting Ridge, Connecting Ridge Extension, de Gerlache Rim 1, de Gerlache Rim 2, de Gerlache-Kocher Massif, Haworth, Malapert Massif, Leibnitz Beta Plateau, Nobile Rim 1, Nobile Rim 2, and Amundsen Rim. NASA’s later Artemis III update in October 2024 narrowed this to nine candidate regions: Peak near Cabeus B, Haworth, Malapert Massif, Mons Mouton Plateau, Mons Mouton, Nobile Rim 1, Nobile Rim 2, de Gerlache Rim 2, and Slater Plain.
The south-pole concentration is technically significant because it clusters human landing sites around terrain that is likely to support power generation, thermal stability, and access to volatiles, especially water ice in permanently shadowed regions. For a lunar civilization backup, this is the highest-leverage geography on the Moon: it offers the best known combination of resource extraction potential, habitation support, and reduced logistics cost compared with equatorial dispersion. The fact that NASA is converging on a small set of candidate regions signals that south-polar infrastructure is becoming the default strategic architecture for sustained lunar presence, not a one-off exploration target.
The Ark team should track three things: the final Artemis III downselect, the specific landing hazards inside each candidate region, and any NASA mapping of nearby permanently shadowed deposits or solar-access ridges. Priority research should focus on south-pole regolith mechanics, volatile prospecting, power siting on ridge crests, and mobility routes between illuminated zones and cold traps. Integrate the site-selection logic into Ark planning now: near-polar settlement should be treated as the baseline design assumption for early lunar survival systems.