HOUSTON -- Beginning next year, the Moon becomes central focus for a number of spacecraft, forerunners of a potential collaboration that could lead to a robotic village on that neighboring world.Lunar scientists are meeting here at the World Space Congress, forging partnerships to open up the Moon to intensive exploration.
Europe and Japan: strong relation
First off the pad is Europes
SMART1, a shortened name for Small Missions for Advanced Research in Technology.
Next March, that European spacecraft is set to blaze a trail to the Moon. SMART-1 is to be followed by several Japanese lunar missions during the next few years. Furthermore, there is work underway in both India and China to dispatch probes to the Moon.
SMART-1 is expected to churn out useful information for Japans lunar science community. "We are building a strong relation," said Bernard Foing, of the European Space Agencys Research and Scientific Support Department at the European Space Research and Technology Center (ESTEC) in Noordwijk, The Netherlands.
"We will be around the Moon at the same time. We will share data with Japan to help them on their lunar missions," Foing said.
Seismic stations
Foing told SPACE.com that the momentum is building for multiple nations to collaborate and support each other in future lunar exploration.
For example, data gleaned by ESAs SMART-1 lunar probe -- to be launched in March of next year can prove useful for NASAs planned robotic lunar return sample efforts. "We want to give SMART-1 data to help them in selecting a landing site," Foing said.
Foing said that the Moon could be the site of a future "robotic village." Sets of lunar landers are likely to be deployed in the Moons polar regions, as well as other spots distant from each other. This hardware would work independently, but also can operate collectively. For instance, joint seismic studies could be orchestrated on the Moon, with equipment from nations working in network fashion.
"It could be a local village, but it could also be a global lunar village of robots," Foing said. Eventually, next generation robots would deploy large infrastructure in preparation for a human-occupied lunar base, he said.
Amino acids on the Moon
"People are realizing that the Moon is the next step", said Douglas OHandley, a former NASA Deputy Associate Administrator for Exploration and now Director of the Astrobiology Academy at Ames Research Center, near San Francisco.
OHandley cited interest in the Moon, not only in Europe and Japan, but in India and China too
The Moon as a possible locale for recoverable water ice is also of keen scientific interest, OHandley said.
"If that lunar pole water is deposited by comets, it has the same signatures of amino acids that were looking for in water on Mars. Then theres this recent report of possible bugs in the upper atmosphere of Venus. Its starting to all fit together in a big puzzle," OHandley said.
High ground?
While NASA remains vague as to a return-to-the-Moon commitment, the U.S. military may see lunar terrain as "high ground," OHandley said.
"If I were part of Chinas space program and wanted to be considered a space power, what would I do? Id go to the Moon," OHandley said.
"If the U.S. military sees China, Japan, and Europe going off to the MoonI think in the next 3-5 years as these folks start pushing for the Moon, the military is going to come to NASA and ask: Are you going?' or 'Are we doing it?"
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