Permanently shadowed crater

[15] The LCROSS mission additionally found native silver and gold in permanently shadowed craters on the Moon, probably brought there by electrostatic dust transport, and some inconclusive evidence for platinum.

This high mercury abundance has been noted as a possible health hazard of water derived from permanently shadowed craters.

[24][25] There are other unique challenges of such regions: dark environments that restrict the ability of rovers to perceive their surroundings, cryogenic regolith that could be hard to move on, and communication interruptions.

[26] In 2020, NASA assigned "sensitive location" status to the Moon's permanently shadowed regions to avoid their contamination.

[42] In 2012, The Lyman Alpha Mapping Project aboard NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has found that the permanently shadowed regions have a porous, powdery surface, that indicates the presence of water ice.

[43] In 2018, an analysis of the results of the Moon Mineralogy Mapper confirmed the existence of water ice deposits in permanently shadowed craters and crevices, with more abundance near the south pole.

[45][46] The cubesat mission failed to go into orbit around the moon when debris blocked propellant lines for the spacecraft’s thrusters.

The Moon's Erlanger crater is an example of a permanently shadowed crater.
The Moon's Shackleton Crater, as imaged by Earth-based radar