BACK TO THE MOON: A Real Back To The Future Expedition

Right now, as I look out my window, the full Moon is radiant. It casts a soothing light over the nearby river and shore. At the same time I cannot help but hear a long series of sighs and sobs as the Moon contemplates its place in future space exploration programs. With the cancellation of NASA's Constellation Program, the Moon was stuffed into the forgotten projects closet. Well, fortunately science and the persistence of NASA has not let the study and eventual long-term exploration of the Moon become forgotten. The motivating force behind this is WATER!


With NASA's successful launching of its LRO and LCROSS Moon exploratory spacecraft, interest in the Moon as an important first step into deep space was sustained. As we know these efforts were successful and water was detected on the Southern polar regions of the Moon. Not So claimed geo-scientists who insisted that the assessment of Moon rocks brought back by the Apollo astronauts indicated that water just could not exist on the Moon. WHAM, the closet door was slammed, but not locked. Just this week (the week of October 17, 2010) NASA scientists refuted those "no water" findings by providing clear evidence from the LCROSS impact analysis that water does exist in the polar regions of the Moon.

We Shall Return!

Inspired by these improved analyses and other research results NASA's Lunar and Planetary Institute has contracted with a commercial vendor to develop and deploy a robotic system to visit the Moon and further analyze both polar regions for water and methane. One of the key objectives is to fully certify that the discovered water can be processed to support both the astronauts and operations of an extended lunar expedition. The next step into deep space may now be back into play. To understand why a return to the Moon is such a vital step, we suggest you review an earlier blog article that addresses some of these important issues. You may click here to review that article.


Yes, I am repeating arguments that have already been expressed by many. Regardless, these are valid arguments and demand serious consideration by our scientific and political leaders. There is NO argument that the exploration of Mars is important, but to make that effort the most successful and scientifically fulfilling we must first return to our Moon to learn all that it awaits to teach us.It is a virtual history book of the evolution of our solar system and especially of our planet Earth. Additionally, it holds many vital secrets that will help us to fully understand what happened on Mars that erased what may have been an evolving life. Lets not allow impatience and overeagerness to blind us to critical details that will expand our understanding of solar systems in general and specifically how we got here within this galaxy and within this universe. So, lets literally "go back to the future" by launching a full, long-term exploration of our Moon.




CREDITS:
Sad Moon Cartoon by natalja1 from Science Blogs > http://bit.ly/bx5YhG
Actual photo: Apollo 11 Lunar Lander with Astronaut. Courtesy of NASA and Apollo Project.