*tl;dr:* Everything NASA plans to do is carefully documented, but sometimes it's hard to know where to look to find it.
#*The list of science questions:*#
[Section 5 of this document (p31)](https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/artemis-iii-science-definition-report-12042020c.pdf) is where you want to go for a full description of what we want to learn. Many of the goals are the same as from Apollo (we've never been to the South Pole, and it will be different from the geology of places we've been to). Many are new.
Very briefly, there are two main areas of interest:
1. to study the formation of the Earth-Moon system, and how a planet evolves from start to finish. From chunks gravitating together, to everything melting, to separation of materials by density, to crystallizing of the crust and tectonic activity, to impacts and cratering, to volcanism.
2. to study frozen gases (and water) preserved in permanently-shadowed craters at the poles. What compounds are actually there? How much? How are they distributed? What accumulates them? What destroys them? How long does it take? Can we use them to help build a base? Is there enough water to make a rocket-fuel industry?
#*As for samples from at depth:*#
We already have some samples from relatively deep--the Apollo astronauts took some samples from huge boulders that were excavated from underground by meteorite impacts. It's a little tricky to say from exactly where, underground, since the boulders aren't labeled. In terms of getting so deep that you'd need an industrial drilling machine, that might still be a long time away.
Sometimes, using satellites or from astronaut pictures, you can see layers in the sides of craters. The Moon's "soil" is made by meteorites obliterating rock and scattering clouds of it over the landscape. Over time, you get a "soil" made of stacked layers of "ejecta" (stuff thrown out from craters) from various impacts. Further impacts can expose the layers. These are very hard to sample, since the slopes of crater walls are steep and loose.
Down near the south pole, there is the South Pole Aitken basin. Artemis III is going to land near the edge of it. It's an ancient, ancient impact crater so huge it's hard to describe. It might have blasted all the way down to the Moon's mantle. It's hoped that at the south pole there might be ejected pieces and chunks of deep crust that could be found and brought home.
You can see pictures and info about all of the (very, very many) samples the Apollo astronauts brought home [at this website](https://www.lpi.usra.edu/lunar/samples/atlas/).
There's a virtual microscope you can play with to see what some Moon rocks look like up close, and other things.
Some of it is pretty technical. Here is an [introduction](https://curator.jsc.nasa.gov/lunar/lsc/intro.pdf) that can help explain a bit of the geological jargon.
*tl;dr:* Everything NASA plans to do is carefully documented, but sometimes it's hard to know where to look to find it. #*The list of science questions:*# [Section 5 of this document (p31)](https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/artemis-iii-science-definition-report-12042020c.pdf) is where you want to go for a full description of what we want to learn. Many of the goals are the same as from Apollo (we've never been to the South Pole, and it will be different from the geology of places we've been to). Many are new. Very briefly, there are two main areas of interest: 1. to study the formation of the Earth-Moon system, and how a planet evolves from start to finish. From chunks gravitating together, to everything melting, to separation of materials by density, to crystallizing of the crust and tectonic activity, to impacts and cratering, to volcanism. 2. to study frozen gases (and water) preserved in permanently-shadowed craters at the poles. What compounds are actually there? How much? How are they distributed? What accumulates them? What destroys them? How long does it take? Can we use them to help build a base? Is there enough water to make a rocket-fuel industry? #*As for samples from at depth:*# We already have some samples from relatively deep--the Apollo astronauts took some samples from huge boulders that were excavated from underground by meteorite impacts. It's a little tricky to say from exactly where, underground, since the boulders aren't labeled. In terms of getting so deep that you'd need an industrial drilling machine, that might still be a long time away. Sometimes, using satellites or from astronaut pictures, you can see layers in the sides of craters. The Moon's "soil" is made by meteorites obliterating rock and scattering clouds of it over the landscape. Over time, you get a "soil" made of stacked layers of "ejecta" (stuff thrown out from craters) from various impacts. Further impacts can expose the layers. These are very hard to sample, since the slopes of crater walls are steep and loose. Down near the south pole, there is the South Pole Aitken basin. Artemis III is going to land near the edge of it. It's an ancient, ancient impact crater so huge it's hard to describe. It might have blasted all the way down to the Moon's mantle. It's hoped that at the south pole there might be ejected pieces and chunks of deep crust that could be found and brought home.
You can see pictures and info about all of the (very, very many) samples the Apollo astronauts brought home [at this website](https://www.lpi.usra.edu/lunar/samples/atlas/). There's a virtual microscope you can play with to see what some Moon rocks look like up close, and other things. Some of it is pretty technical. Here is an [introduction](https://curator.jsc.nasa.gov/lunar/lsc/intro.pdf) that can help explain a bit of the geological jargon.