The Importance of Measuring Heat Flux Near the Lunar South Pole

Abstract

On the Moon, in situ measurements of heat flow were made at the Apollo 15 and 17 landing sites [1-3] and are planned to be made in Mare Crisium on the 2023 Commercial Lunar Payload System (CLPS) mission. Measuring heat flow near the lunar South Pole on Artemis would be an important extension of this data set.