As NASA prepares to return to the Moon by 2024 as part of its Artemis program, the agency is focusing its efforts on exploring the Moon’s polar regions. These are areas of the Moon which seem to have a lot of water mixed in with the regolith. Some of these craters are permanently in shadow, and might still have large quantities of water, that’s accessible to human and robotic explorers. This is a critical resource, and the Moon might be just the place to help humanity as it pushes out to explore the rest of the Solar System. Audio Podcast version:ITunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/universe-today-guide-to-space-audio/id794058155?mt=2RSS: https://www.universetoday.com/audioWhat Fraser's Watching Playlist:https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbJ42wpShvmkjd428BcHcCEVWOjv7cJ1GWeekly email newsletter:https://www.universetoday.com/newsletterSupport us at: http://www.patreon.com/universetodayMore stories at: http://www.universetoday.com/Twitch: https://twitch.tv/fcainFollow us on Twitter: @universetodayLike us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/universetodayInstagram - http://instagram.com/universetodayTeam: Fraser Cain - @fcain / [email protected]Karla Thompson - @karlaii / https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEItkORQYd4Wf0TpgYI_1fwChad Weber - [email protected]References:https://www.nasa.gov/feature/50-years-ago-lunar-landing-sites-selectedhttps://curator.jsc.nasa.gov/lunar/https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/1336/what-thickness-depth-of-water-would-be-required-to-provide-radiation-shielding-ihttps://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3480https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2019/lro-sheds-light-on-lunar-water-movementhttps://www.nasa.gov/ames/LCROSShttps://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2019/inside-dark-polar-moon-craters-water-not-as-invincible-as-expected-scientists-arguehttps://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2019/chang-e-landers-a-closer-lookhttps://www.isro.gov.in/gslv-mk-iii-m1-chandrayaan-2-mission/launch-kit-glancehttp://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2017/1207-koreas-first-lunar-mission.htmlhttps://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-selects-12-new-lunar-science-technology-investigationshttps://www.astrobotic.com/2019/7/1/astrobotic-awarded-5-6-million-nasa-contract-to-deliver-autonomous-moon-roverhttp://www.planetary.org/explore/projects/planetvac/https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-07/uom-nsu071119.phphttps://today.ttu.edu/posts/2019/07/Stories/NASA-picks-Nagihara-instrument-moon-landing