LONDON (AP) — British and
U.S. scientists said Friday they were exploring plans for a joint lunar mission
that would use an orbiter to fire missile-like penetrators into the moon's
surface.
The Moon Lightweight
Interior and Telecoms Experiment, or MoonLITE, would put a satellite into orbit
around the moon. Three or four projectiles packed with scientific
instruments would then be fired and embed just below the lunar surface, the
British National Space Center and NASA said in a statement.
The scientists said
MoonLITE could deliver important information about the moon's structure, such
as the size of the lunar core and the source of lunar seismic activity.
The mission would also
provide an opportunity to test the space communications network needed for
future robotic or human explorers.
NASA and the British space
center said more study and a definitive cost estimate were needed before making
a decision on whether to proceed with the proposed mission.
The statement came a day
after the government's space minister, Ian Pearson, said officials were
reconsidering a 1986 decision for Britain not to pursue
its own manned space flights.
Britain doesn't want to be
left out of an "international wave of new space exploration in the next 10 to
20 years,'' Pearson said while announcing plans for a new space research center
to be built near Oxford.
He said a review of manned
spaceflight options would come out either this year or next, and in the
meantime Britain would likely remain focused on robotic space exploration.
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