Malapert is a lunar impact crater that lies near the south pole of the Moon, named for 17th century astronomer Charles Malapert. British astronomer T. W. Webb noted "this is the nearest visible crater to S. Pole".

This is the specific mission design of the mission first announced publicly the previous year, in collaboration with the International Lunar Observatory Association (ILOA). As of February 2024 no such mission has yet flown.

Intuitive Machines 1 mission

The Nova-C lunar lander Odysseus, used for the IM-1 mission, landed near Malapert-A in February 2024. The IM-1 mission targeted the Malapert-A crater, an area about from the lunar south pole, because it appeared to be a relatively flat and safe place near the pole to land.

Satellite craters

By convention these features are identified on lunar maps by placing the letter on the side of the crater midpoint that is closest to Malapert.

thumb|Map showing location of the Malapert "satellite craters."

thumb|Malapert crater is north to the Malapert massif, the larger highland is the Leibnitz Beta massif.

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:1em auto;"

|-

! scope="col" | Malapert

! scope="col" | Latitude

! scope="col" | Longitude

! scope="col" | Diameter

|-

! scope="row" | A

| 80.4° S

| 3.4° W

| 24 km

|-

! scope="row" | B

| 79.1° S

| 2.4° W

| 37 km

|-

! scope="row" | C

| 81.5° S

| 10.5° E

| 40 km

|-

! scope="row" | E

| 84.3° S

| 21.2° E

| 17 km

|-

! scope="row" | F

| 81.5° S

| 14.9° E

| 11 km

|-

! scope="row" | K

| 78.8° S

| 6.8° E

| 36 km

|}

Images

thumb|Malapert as viewed from Earth

At a Space Resources Roundtable co-sponsored by the Lunar and Planetary Institute a presentation by B. L. Cooper underscored the difficulty of imaging terrain illuminated by high-incidence-angle light. Nonetheless, the images in her presentation show the Malapert Mountain area well.

In the 1970s British science fiction series Space: 1999, the location of Moonbase Alpha is Malapert Crater.

The International Lunar Observatory (ILO-1) is a lunar-based optical telescope that will be launched after 2022, and will land on the Malapert Mountain ridge.

See also

  • Peak of Eternal Light

References

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Sources