South Pole–Aitken is the Moon’s largest impact basin
The South Pole–Aitken basin sprawls across the lunar far-side south, a gigantic ancient impact scar thousands of kilometers wide and deeper than typical maria.
It excavates lower crust and possibly mantle material, making it a prime target for sample-return and polar exploration. Permanently shadowed craters along its rim may trap ice.
One crash rewrote half a hemisphere. South Pole–Aitken is the Moon’s deepest memory of the early bombardment.
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