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[Music]

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In order for NASA to map and explore

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the region around the lunar South Pole,

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we need to precisely define a system of

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latitude and longitude on the Moon,

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including the exact location of the South Pole itself.

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In the coordinate system

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adopted by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mission,

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the South Pole is here,

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on the rugged rim of Shackleton crater.

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If you stood on this treacherous spot,

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you’d see the sunlit rim of the crater,

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encircling a permanently shadowed abyss

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that’s two and a half miles deep, 

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over twice that of the Grand Canyon,

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covering an area over 130 square miles.

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As we return to the lunar surface,

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three dimensional maps like this

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will help guide astronauts to safe landing sites

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in the challenging landscape of the Moon’s South Pole.

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[Music fades]