Skip to content
01In development

Guided Mission

Understand the environment.

A step-by-step introduction to the lunar south pole. Each chapter places you at a site, changes one thing, and shows you what it does to sunlight and to your view of Earth.

What the tutorial covers

  1. 01

    Solar elevation

    How high the Sun climbs at the pole, and why it never climbs far. You'll watch it circle the horizon over a lunar day.

  2. 02

    Terrain obstruction

    How crater rims and distant massifs cut off a Sun that is only a degree or two above the horizon.

  3. 03

    Earth visibility

    Where Earth sits in the sky from the south pole, how it wobbles with libration, and when terrain hides it.

  4. 04

    Communication windows

    Turning Earth visibility over time into the periods when a lander can talk directly to Earth.

  5. 05

    Mission lighting conditions

    Putting it together: lit periods, stretches of darkness, and what they mean for power and temperature.

The idea every chapter builds onA site's horizon decides when it sees the Sun and Earth.
Illustrative horizon maskTerrain elevation angle around a site plotted against azimuth. The Sun's path is lit where it rises above the terrain and blocked where the terrain is higher. Earth sits near 182° azimuth. Values are illustrative.0°90°180°270°360°0°2°4°
Terrain mask Sun path, unobstructed Sun path, blocked by terrain EarthIllustrative values
The guided tutorial is being built in the next phase. Nothing on this page is interactive yet, and the chart above uses an illustrative horizon rather than real terrain.
See the conceptRead the science

Other ways to explore