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We learned a lot from the Apollo samples,
but we still have a lot

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left to learn about the Moon.

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The Apollo missions visited
only a pretty narrow swath of the Moon,

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all the missions were concentrated
near the near side equator.

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Really interesting
and really critical insights

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were unlocked with the Apollo samples,

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but we have so many questions
still to answer about the Moon

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and the evolution of the Moon.

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[Dramatic music]

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Launch commentator:
And liftoff of Artemis One!

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We rise together,
back to the Moon and beyond.

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NASA's Artemis missions

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are NASA's plan to send people
to the surface of the Moon.

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We'll be sending people and roving
assets and scientific equipment

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to, among other things, answer a lot of
really compelling science questions.

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Scientists have a lot to learn
about the Moon.

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It's our nearest celestial neighbor
here to Earth.

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So what the Moon has experienced,
we've experienced,

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except here on Earth,
we have things like plate

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tectonics, oceans, forests, people
that erase the rock record.

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Whereas on the Moon, that whole record
of our planet's history, of the Moon's

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history is just kind of waiting there
at the surface for us to explore.

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The South Pole, which is where Artemis
missions are going to target,

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is specifically interesting
for a couple key reasons.

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We think there are volatiles

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at the South Pole of the Moon
that are not present near the equator.

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Things like water and water ice
that are trapped in the lunar regolith,

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which basically just means lunar soil,
that can easily become untrapped from that

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lunar regolith and scientists can scoop up
and study for return to Earth.

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The lunar South Pole is a really
exciting scientific target,

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and it also comes with some
challenges for operating.

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For example, the lighting environment
will change drastically within the course

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of one mission and even over
sometimes the course of one spacewalk.

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So preparing the crew members,
preparing the hardware that we're sending

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to the Moon, and preparing the mission
control teams is really, really important.

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The South Pole-Aitken Basin
is particularly exciting.

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We think it's one of the oldest and
largest impact basins in the solar system,

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and if we can get the right rock
from the South Pole-Aitken Basin

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and bring it back to our labs
here on Earth, we can use that sample

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to constrain the entire evolution
of our solar system and really understand

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the timing of how the Moon and our planet
and the entire solar system evolved.

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[Music]