The Moon’s south pole is a place of promise and perils. Effective data sharing will benefit and save everyone.

We may have gone to the Moon before but we have been to its south pole. There’s a big difference. The south polar environment is far harsher than the near-equatorial or mid-latitude sites where Apollo astronauts and most robotic missions have landed. At the lunar poles, the slopes are far steeper, Sun and Earth visibility for power and communications respectively more limited, temperatures inside water-hosting permanently shadowed regions crossing into cryogenic realms, and smooth enough reliably lit patches for spacecraft to touchdown upon not just smaller but far fewer amid treacherous mountainous terrain. For all practical purposes, the lunar south pole is a different Moon-like planet that’s even more unforgiving than Luna.The steep slopes at the Moon’s south pole (85–90°S). Image: CLSE / LPIA giant chasmDespite facing a whole new plane of challenges, the global rush to the Moon this century is grander in ambition than even Apollo. Countries and companies wish to repeatedly land…