Evaluating Potential Landing Regions for Artemis III: Multi-Attribute Decision-Making Framework for Power, ISRU, and Human Factors at the Lunar South Pole

In 2022, NASA identified 13 regions around the lunar South Pole as candidates for the Artemis III lunar landing site based on various criteria and scientific objectives. In the future, NASA plans to establish an Artemis Base Camp in the lunar South Pole region at an as yet undetermined location. As NASA and other stakeholders establish a long-term lunar surface presence, the importance of location selection cannot be understated. This effort seeks to develop a framework that integrates various factors to support the lunar surface location selection process. The first task is to consolidate available lunar surface data--such as maps of potential resource availability, illumination, temperatures, topography, and surface location access delta-v cost--into a unified lunar surface model. The second task is to propagate the impact of location to derive secondary factors and constraints related to surface system design and crew. Examples of secondary location factors include proximity to potential resources, proximity to permanently shadowed or lit regions, and landing site suitability. Another example is suitability for human habitation, which depends on location factors such as flatness, proximity to ice deposits, available illumination, temperature, radiation exposure, etc. Constraints on possible locations can be obtained based on these factors. As one example, environmental control and life support (ECLS) requirements for water and or propellant requirements for refueling lunar landers become requirements for ISRU production. To meet ISRU production requirements, locations must be in close proximity to available ice deposits, imposing constraints on potential locations. The power needed to supply ISRU and other systems, if supplied by solar arrays, is dependent on available illumination and thus location, resulting in another constraint on potential locations. The final goal is to combine all the factors and constraints into a parametric multi-attribute decision-making framework to support lunar surface location selection.