Over a century ago, humans were racing to explore a remote and unknown land. Discovering how to traverse this Terra Incognita, slowly learning its secrets, came at a high cost in both money and human lives. Eventually, we learned how to live and work within Antarctica's extreme and hostile environment. At first, it was done for the sake of Human Endurance and Exploration. Later, whalers and sealers ventured to the islands and shores, looking for larger and larger profits. Researchers studied the land, the sea, the Earth's magnetic field, and more. Artists, poets, and writers visited to share the beauty, the loneliness, and the seemingly infinite white expanse. But Science eventually became the primary motivation for people to overwinter within this remote continent.
The scientific returns from work in Antarctica were unfathomable when humans first set eyes on these hostile shores. However, today almost every field of Science has benefited from the experiments completed on this previously unknown continent. As we now look towards sending humans to another remote location to set up a new sustained presence, we can take lessons learned and only guess at the immensity of new scientific finds that will come. The South Pole of the Moon shares many of the same challenges humans face at the South Pole of Earth. There are no hardware stores for missing parts, no grocery stores to pick up fresh foods, and the environment is hostile towards life. But one thing is clear; our imaginations are not large enough to know all the ways our lives will be impacted by this new scientific and human endeavor.
Studying the Sun and its interaction with the near-Earth space environment and upper atmosphere is just one of the many fields that have benefited hugely from Antarctic endeavors. This polar region is of great interest. Unlike at the North Pole, there is land where scientific instruments can be installed. However, the hostile environment at the poles does not make it an easy place for fieldwork. In most polar regions, there are months without Sun, which means that solar power is insufficient. Wind power is more reliable in this massive desert, but getting your data back is still the problem. The remote location and intermittent power create significant hurdles to retrieving large amounts of data (think 1990's internet upload speeds at best). By having infrastructure where humans can visit the field sites, hard drives with terabytes of high-resolution data can be collected, and repairs to instrumentation can be made.
The idea of Antarctic research being continuous has become a given, creating opportunities for long-term datasets to be collected. These long-term datasets offer insights into our climate, our Sun's nature, and our Universe's dynamics. In fact, in 2013, when the US government shut down, stalling the boats carrying scientists and their instrumentation to Antarctica, there was an outcry from the scientific community. The shutdown led to disruptions and shortened data collection in long-term datasets, impacting their integrity. As a result, Antarctica, over about 50 years, has gone from a rarely utilized field site to an invaluable and essential scientific investigation platform.
Today we are on the precipice of exploring new remote, hostile lands. The Lunar South Pole is as mysterious as our own was in the early 19th century. We have looked extensively at it from afar, trying to better understand its geology, the potential of water, and if it would make a sustainable field site. But most excitingly, it will inform us of our own history. The Moon holds secrets about how our solar system was formed. The Moon was created during a catastrophic impact between the Earth and a comet or asteroid. The lunar surface holds information about how our Sun has changed throughout the millenniums. Each of these and other scientific endeavors will help us understand how and why life has been able to evolve on Earth. And, with understanding how our solar system came to support life, we can look out toward exoplanets which may also support complex life forms.
Like Antarctica, the lunar surface will provide a platform for more than just lunar and planetary Science questions to be asked. The Moon is a unique location. We can put telescopes to look back at Earth, study the boundaries between our magnetic field and the Sun's, or look out beyond to other galaxies. In addition, the lower gravity provides an exciting lab for different biological and physical experiments.
And while there are many other scientific questions that the Moon will help us unlock, I am most excited about the questions I don't even know to ask. Sure the Moon will help us understand how to live and work on other planetary bodies, preparing us for crewed missions to Mars and beyond. But the Moon is exciting because it is our Moon. There are many compelling questions and opportunities opening up as we return humanity to our natural satellite, to stay, to create this new field site, and to be inspired.
Here's to the new Antarctica, the new South Pole. Here's to the Artemis Program and the Moon.