ALBUQUERQUE,
New Mexico -- While many scientists believe that humanity has literally only
scratched the surface of the Moon in
terms of scientific exploration and discovery, they acknowledge that a lot of
work remains to be done to convince the public that current U.S.
plans to return to the Moon are more than a "been there, done that" repeat
of the Apollo program.
Some
of the scientists who gathered here Feb. 11-15 for the 2007 Space Technology
and Applications International Forum noted that the Moon is a large natural
satellite with as much surface area as the African continent. In addition, it
can be reached in three days' travel time - as the rocket flies, contains
important natural resources, and offers a novel environment that can eventually
be inhabited.
But
they also said convincing the taxpaying public that the Moon is worthy of a
human return requires far more evocative scenarios than those that have been
have been used so far to promote NASA's Vision for Space
Exploration.
"Yes,
we've been there, but we haven't done that - and there's so much that yet to
do...things that are actually really exciting," said Brent Sherwood, Manager of
the Opportunity Development office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. "We've got to
start talking about the kinds of things that will get people to support and
embrace [a lunar return] rather than either oppose it or be bored by it," he
told SPACE.com.
Sherwood
said that a lack of clarity about the value of returning to the Moon makes the
plan vulnerable to public and political criticism, so much so that NASA's lunar ambitions
could be killed. During the conference he outlined a number of scenarios for
future lunar activity that could improve the image of the program.
Global dialog
In
April 2006, NASA convened a workshop intended to begin a long-term global
dialog about what humanity will do on, and with, Earth's Moon. The purpose of
that confab was to glean ideas from diverse stakeholders -- international,
commercial, scientific, and governmental -- that could be organized into a
"global lunar exploration strategy" -
a strategy that agencies, entrepreneurs, scientists, and enthusiasts could use
to explain the purpose and importance of lunar activities to their governments,
investors, sponsors, and public.
As
one of the leaders of seven different groups to solicit views from some 200
participants, Sherwood noted that the workshop generated hundreds of candidate
activities that might be pursued on the Moon.
Overall
goals and objectives emerged, spotlighting how nations could work together to
continue exploring the Moon, using both humans and machines to enable
increasingly sophisticated lunar activities, specifically:
To
build support for lunar
exploration detailed scenarios will be vital early on, whether or not they
turn out to accurately predict reality 20 years hence, Sherwood said.
Moon-based scenarios
Sherwood
has fleshed out a series of vignettes of what could actually be done on the
Moon, such as build simple observatories that open new wavelength regimes;
institute a public-private lunar development corporation; as well as rehearse
planetary protection protocols for Mars.
These
and many other scenarios have the capacity to startle and inspire
non-specialists, while helping to communicate lunar activities in years to
come, such as:
Paving for dust control: The native lunar environment is a
wretched place for routine operations. But so are coal mines, nuclear reactors,
war zones, steel foundries, the Sahara desert, or even the traffic-choked streets
of Manila or Manhattan--places where
human enterprise routinely operates. One of the most insidious environmental
factors on the Moon is lunar dust and there are ways to mitigate this pesky
grime.
Establishing a colony of continuously active robots: Whatever
capabilities are provided to human explorers they can be amplified many-fold by
robotic abilities. Robots don't tire or get bored, have less expensive
"life-support" requirements, and can be designed to be less susceptible to variations
in lighting, temperature, and hazards than humans. They cannot yet emulate
humans, but by 2030 -- a reasonable timeframe for lunar base buildup - they may
be getting quite close to having such handiness.
Designer biology: A key lunar activity could be the
development of organisms that accommodate hard radiation, lower atmospheric
pressure, different partial pressures of atmospheric gases, alien soils, long
dark periods, strong blasts of ultraviolet, and produce more nutrients than
native Earth species can. A lunar laboratory could explore a range of species
that are tailor-made.
A search for pieces of ancient Earth: The Moon has
recorded Earth-space history since its formation. There should be rocks in the
lunar topside that came from Earth in that early age. How would we recognize
them? How long, how far, how deep would we have to hunt to find them?
Establish a virtual real-time network to enable public
engagement: On the wall sized high definition screens of the future,
people will want to see to live feeds of lunar wilderness or worksite
activities. Viewers would be able "walk around" on the Moon in immersive
virtual reality - at school or home settings, not in theme parks. Lunar worker
blogs could be highly popular, connecting Earth and Moon inhabitants as lunar
living becomes part of daily "modern" life.
Conducting lunar kitchen science: Get down to the
most practical things of all...how to cook, how to clean, how to live in
one-sixth gravity and within a hermetic environment at risk of dust infiltration,
rapid decompression, radiation exposure, and temperature extremes. After all,
until you can make a martini and cook an omelet, you can't have a hotel.
Breaking out of the bubble
"We
don't have to paint an integrated architecture. The only people that care about
that are the Congress, NASA planners...aerospace companies. What gets people
interested is a little view that's very detailed of something that they can get
inside of...that they can get interested about," Sherwood said.
"I
think to the outside world we are really boring," Sherwood added. "We spend so
much time talking to ourselves. We are in this little bubble that we perceive
to be relevant to the world...but the world doesn't perceive it that way."
Sherwood
said that there's need to break out of that bubble and talk about things that
will be happening on the Moon of possible interest to the general public, to
help shore up and sustain support.
"Otherwise
what's going to happen...it's going to be a constant uphill battle," Sherwood
concluded.
Commercial and international enterprise
Also
at the STAIF 2007 meeting, a technical committee of the American Institute of
Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) that focuses on space colonization issued a
position statement on future utilization of the Moon.
The
group recommended research, development, technology and engineering goals in
order to establish a Moon base by 2015 - projecting outward to 2050 and the
creation of the first self-sustained, permanent lunar settlement of roughly
1,000 humans.
The
study team recommended "robust implementation of lunar settlements with
commercial and international enterprise," explained Edward McCullough, chair of
the AIAA technical committee from the Boeing Company, Huntington Beach, California.
Among
a set of recommendations, the committee called for the United States to work with
international partners to pursue free-market rules to the development of space;
international conventions on property and mineral rights; and land management
conventions to include provisions for homesteading, McCullough reported.
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