Sverdrup-Henson crater: A candidate location for the first lunar South Pole settlement.

Robotic and manned exploration of the Moon is the next target in Solar System exploration. The availability of resources such as water ice, iron oxides, helium-3, and rare earth elements, combined with permanently sunlit areas, provides the opportunity for the first settlement, either human or robotic, on the Moon. We used several selection criteria (abundance of water ice, the slope of terrain, usable energy sources, communications, and base expandability) to identify a suitable area for a future base in the southern polar crater Sverdrup-Henson.