Since launching its lunar program in 2004, China has conducted five robotic missions. Chang'e 5, the latest mission, arrived on the moon in late 2020 before returning to Earth with 1.7 kg of lunar rocks and soil, the first specimens from Earth's only natural satellite in 44 years.
Chinese researchers are considering launching a robotic mission to the Moon's craters, where it would land in the so-called permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) near the lunar south pole, and Beijing is ready and eager to move forward with its lunar project.
Why are these areas referred to as "permanently shadowed"? The Sun never reaches to a substantial altitude above the horizon there because the Moon is tidally locked towards Earth and there are no seasons.
The Moon possesses both peaks of continual light, where everlasting day prevails, and craters of endless darkness, where the Sun never rises, due to this reason.
Researchers from Fudan University's Key Laboratory of Information Science ...
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