Future lunar explorers may be heading to this plain in Oceanus Procellarum (See? Liberal liturgists don’t shy away from using Latin–it means “Ocean of Storms.”) because of a peculiar magnetic field above the surface here. Unlike the Earth, our moon offers explorers little to no protection against hard radiation from the sun and other sources. Lunar bases, to be made safe, would likely need to be tunneled into the soil.
Reiner Gamma, pictured above, possesses a magnetic shield which diverts much of the dangerous particles away to gray areas. RG has other aspects of scientific interest, so I’d expect the new NASA efforts to consider a mission here. Full article on Space.com here.
