China is launching a Moon mission to find water ice. It’s unlike anything NASA has done

Shackleton crater on the Lunar South Pole. NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio How do you explore a place where the Sun never shines? China’s space programme will soon embark on one of the most innovative lunar exploration missions in recent years. We’ve known for nearly two decades that some form of water exists on the Moon. What we still don’t know is exactly how much accessible water ice lies inside permanently shadowed craters, how deeply it is buried or what form it takes. What we do…