The race to the dark side of the moon: NASA is in a sprint against Russia, China and Europe to be the first to land on the southern hemisphere

NASA and the European Space Agency are racing to land on the previously unexplored southern hemisphere of the moon in search of water.

In a modern-day space race, finding water on the moon could cut space mission costs by providing hydration, oxygen, and much-needed fuel for rockets.

NASA hopes to build a permanent and sustainable presence on the moon’s south pole, with the Lunar Gateway space station serving as a launching pad between Earth and the moon.

NASA is scheduled to launch a space mission later this year and plans to land on the south pole region of the moon by 2026.

The European Space Agency aims to launch its Airline 6 rocket to the moon in the middle of 2024.

Russia, China, India and Japan are also planning to send astronauts to the southern region of the moon in 2026.

When astronauts landed on the moon in 1969 in a rush to beat out the Soviet Union during the Cold War, there was nothing to indicate that the moon held billions of gallons of water. 

But in 2009, NASA made the startling discovery that there may be a presence of water on the moon after it intentionally crashed a rocket into one of the craters on the moon, releasing a plume of material called hydroxyl, which is a major indicator of water.

Astronomers missed the tell-tale signs of water because crews have historically landed on the moon’s equator, where daytime temperatures reach 120 degrees Celsius (248 degrees Fahrenheit).

But temperatures at the north and south poles drop as low as -230 degrees Celsius (-382 degrees Fahrenheit) which are low enough for water molecules to build up as ice over billions of years.

The possibility of water on the lunar surface could prove to be incredibly beneficial for long-term plans to build a human presence on the moon. 

NASA intends to eventually build the Lunar Gateway space station that can serve as a launching pad for astronauts to travel to and from Earth.

If there is water on the moon, it could provide astronauts with valuable resources like providing oxygen by splitting H2O molecules that can also be used as rocket fuel.

Water could also provide astronauts with much-needed hydration, effectively cutting the cost of lunar exploration – it currently costs $1.2 million to transport one liter of water from Earth to the moon.

If NASA is successful in sending astronauts to the moon’s south pole this year, the U.S. will once again beat out other countries including Japan and India which are planning on launching a joint mission in 2026.

China reportedly has plans in the works to land on the moon’s southern region the same year and intends to build a research station on its surface by 2030.

These plans are all in addition to NASA planning the second launch of its lunar lander, nicknamed Odysseus, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket only a month after the failed launch.

If the second attempt is a success, it will mark the first time a U.S. rocket has landed on the moon in more than five decades.

The Falcon 9 rocket will reach an orbit of 380,000 km (236,100 miles) around Earth, and once in orbit, Odysseus will detach from the rocket and begin its journey to the southern lunar surface.

NASA expects Odysseus to travel through space over a week, with a projected touchdown on February 22.

On January 8, an attempt to launch Peregrine failed after it developed a fuel leak just hours after the launch and burned up in the atmosphere 10 days later as it dropped back toward Earth.

Stephen Altemus, the CEO of Intuitive Machines which built the lunar lander, believes there is about an 80 percent chance that the company will successfully land Odysseus on the moon.

‘We’ve stood on the shoulders of everybody who’s tried before us,’ Altemus told CNN, adding that this isn’t just a one-time mission.

‘It’s not a one-and-done operation at all,’ Altemus told the outlet. ‘We built a lunar program for the purpose of flying regularly to the moon.’