It鈥檚 nearly thirty years since Cernan uttered those words鈥攁 coda to
Neil Armstrong鈥檚 famous first step. Why have we stayed away from the Moon so
long? The Apollo programme may be part of the explanation. A glorious but hugely
expensive piece of political posturing, Apollo encouraged the view that lunar
adventures are a waste of money that would be better spent on solving more
mundane problems.
Since then, the world鈥檚 space agencies have shown little interest in the
Moon. The fleets of Soviet and American spacecraft dwindled in the early 1970s,
and the missions that followed form a pretty sparse flotilla
(see Graphic).
At the moment, with NASA鈥檚 eyes on Mars and its feet bound by
the over-budget International Space Station, our satellite might seem like a
forgotten backwater.
But that鈥檚 changing. Although NASA is the only force that could mount an
invasion of the Moon, many other organisations are beginning their own
infiltrations. And paradoxically, given NASA鈥檚 financial problems, one of the
attractions is money. Several companies are aiming to exploit the Moon鈥檚
business potential
(鈥淩ocks to riches鈥�).
In the past, visions of interplanetary commerce
have been grand: powering nuclear fusion reactors with helium-3 extracted from
Moon rock, building heavy industry that exploits the Moon鈥檚 low gravity and hard
vacuum鈥攅ven turning the Moon into a high-class long-haul tourist
destination. The current crop of plans are less grandiose. You should soon be
able to have your ashes scattered on the Moon鈥檚 surface, or drive a lunar rover
by remote control. For a price, of course. This brand of moneymaking may smack
of the fairground, but the important thing is that it鈥檚 feasible, and the first
commercial moonshot may be only months away. To some enthusiasts, this could be
the jump-start they鈥檝e craved. Once capitalism covets the Moon, they believe,
crewed missions, bases and even full-scale colonisation are inevitable.
Advertisement
Scientists have good reasons to want to go back. To them, the Moon is still a
thoroughly mysterious place. How, for instance, was it created? The latest
theories involve a collision so violent that it actually vaporised much of our planet
(鈥淐runch point鈥�).
But to test this and answer other questions about the Moon鈥檚
history and structure, we need new rock samples from a wide range of lunar
terrain. Apollo鈥檚 sites were rather uniform鈥攁ll safe landing places in the
plains of the Moon鈥檚 near side.
And there鈥檚 a crowd of other questions. What are the strange lights that many
astronomers claim to have seen flickering on the lunar surface
(鈥淢辞辞苍驳濒辞飞鈥�)? Is
there any residual volcanic activity? What was the source of the great
bombardment that created the lunar plains? Are lunar minerals concentrated
enough to be mined? What resources would be available to future explorers?
A rare highlight of recent lunar exploration came in 1994, when the
Clementine orbiter found signs of water ice in the shadowed craters of the south
pole. At around $80 million, this mission seemed like a bargain, and the
idea of doing cost-effective science is tempting some of the world鈥檚 smaller
space agencies to start Moon programmes of their own.
The European Space Agency鈥檚 begins in October, with the launch of SMART-1.
This spacecraft will orbit the Moon for six months, deploying a variety of
instruments to make a detailed map of its surface composition. Meanwhile, ESA is
developing another orbiter, LunarSat, which will follow Clementine鈥檚 lead and
search for buried water.
Japan also has two missions on the go: in early 2003 its Institute of Space
and Aeronautical Science (ISAS) plans to launch LUNAR-A, which will fire two
penetrators into the Moon鈥檚 surface. These probes will measure moonquakes and
heat flows to examine the deep interior. ISAS and Japan鈥檚 NASDA space agency
will follow up in 2005 with SELENE, which will map the Moon at various
wavelengths. China鈥檚 National Space Administration has also declared exploration
of the Moon to be a priority. Last October, the country鈥檚 official news agency
reported a plan to launch a lunar craft aboard a Long March rocket, although no
further details have emerged.
Perhaps the indifference of the past three decades has been an aberration.
Once, the Moon was a god, an astronomical puzzle (even the Druids of ancient
Britain may have learned to predict its eclipses
鈥斺�滱ltar of the druids鈥�), and an
impossibly remote, unattainable destination. For the past generation it鈥檚 been
neither unattainable nor worth attaining鈥攚e鈥檝e been there and done that.
So what鈥檚 next? Whether it鈥檚 to be a cheap attraction, a new home for humankind,
or a new scientific puzzle, all eyes are back on the Moon.
