A Public-Data Blueprint for a Lunar South Pole Landing: Where to Land, How to Get There and Back, and What Nigeria Brings

Humanity is going back to the Moon, and this time to its south pole, where sunlight is rare and water ice hides in permanent shadow. NASA flew four astronauts around the Moon on Artemis II in April 2026 and now plans its first landing for 2028. In December 2022 Nigeria became one of the first two African signatories of the Artemis Accords. This study asks what a small team in Nigeria can add, using only public data and open code. A horizon ray-trace of NASA's LOLA elevation map finds that within 120 km of the pole, 14.5 % of the ground never sees the Sun, while only 2.3 km² is lit more than 70 % of the time. Twelve candidate sites are ranked, and a reusable transport concept is sized. The results are upper bounds that sit beside NASA's own analysis. They are an open, checkable contribution.