To the Moon!

Back in late 1960s and early 1970s, astronauts landed on the Moon, walked around, did science, and returned lunar samples that helped change our view of not just the Moon, but Earth, and the way the two formed.  It has been decades since anybody set foot on the lunar surface, although humans have been sending a few missions here and there to study this world next door.

NASA is planning to return to the Moon with a pair of satellites called the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS). Both missions have ambitious schedules: to map the Moon down to one-meter resolution (which will help identify landing sites for the next human missions), and to chart out the types of resources available on the Moon.

It seems natural to return to the Moon. For a long time, people have talked about the Moon as potential staging site for missions to Mars and beyond.  They’ve also talked about the possibility of colonies on the Moon — which are also a great staple of science fiction. But, there’s nothing SF about the actual guts of landing and living on the Moon. We have the technology to do it, and mobilizing such missions would be a tremendous economic boost (better, I’d say, than using taxpayer dollars to fund questionable wars or  questionable financial bailouts).

How we get to the Moon and establish bases there (and by “we” I mean all humans, not just space-faring nations), the first things we have to do is what pioneers did in previous centuries — scout out the terrain, report back on the resources, and then figure out a way to do it.  So, keep your eyes peeled on the moon missions — NASA’s new lunar missions as well as the continuing missions to the Moon by other space agencies. It’s gonna be a busy time on those distant, cratered plains.