From 'Lake of Death' to Clavius, Korea searches moon for 2032 landing sites

Korea is shopping for real estate on the moon, and its newly established space agency has its eye on some of the lunar surface’s most forbidding neighborhoods.

At a recent academic symposium, the Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA) revealed a shortlist of prospective landing sites for two robotic missions scheduled for 2032.

The agency is weighing 20 candidate zones for its flagship lunar lander and nine for a precursor soft-landing demonstration craft, signaling a decisive shift toward boots-on-the-surface ambitions for a nation long playing catch-up in deep-space exploration.

Rather than sticking strictly to the lunar south pole — a crowded target for NASA’s Artemis program and rival missions seeking water ice — Korean scientists are eyeing a broader, strategically varied grid. The candidate list spans ancient impact basins, jagged basaltic plains, and deep pit craters that could house underground lava tubes.

Among the standout targets for the early 2032 verification probe is Lacus Mortis, or the "Lake of Death," a pitted plain that scientists suspect holds collapsed lava tubes. Such underground caverns are increasingly viewed by international space agencies as ideal natural shelters for future crewed bases, offering protection from radiation and meteoroids. Another primary candidate is Clavius, one of the moon's largest and oldest craters, where scientists previously detected traces of water molecules bound within the soil.

"Evaluating and debating candidate landing sites is a critical step toward ensuring the success of our 2032 lunar lander mission," said Kang Kyung-in, head of KASA’s space science and exploration division. "We will maintain continuous dialogue with relevant experts and leverage rigorous scientific and engineering analyses to select a landing site optimized for Korea's lunar exploration goals."

The two-stage deployment represents the centerpiece of Korea's decade-long, 530 billion won ($385 million) secondary lunar exploration program managed by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute. Under the current roadmap, a soft-landing verification craft will launch in early 2032 to evaluate touchdown safety, test dust-mitigation systems, and measure cosmic radiation.

If that craft lands intact, a more sophisticated, primary lander will follow in late 2032. Its payload will feature precision landing systems and analytical tools to sample volatile elements like hydrogen and oxygen, as well as metallic minerals.

The effort is more than a display of technical swagger.

By securing its own lander capability and mapping native resources, Korea aims to stake a functional claim in the emerging cislunar economy, laying infrastructural groundwork for long-term resource extraction and future lunar outposts.

But the technical hurdles are formidable.

Selecting a final site requires balancing high-yield scientific rewards — such as pristine mantle materials or volatile-rich soils — against unforgiving engineering constraints. Engineers must account for treacherous surface slopes, limited solar illumination, and direct line-of-sight communication with Earth. KASA said it plans to narrow the options over the coming months through continued panel consultations with industry and academic experts as lander designs solidify.

This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.