Could we find alien technology embedded in moon dust?

The bold idea, not yet peer-reviewed, suggests checking out the lunar surface for "microscopic technosignatures." The SETI Institute — or the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute — describes these technosignatures as "tiny engineered particles" that may have come from interstellar space before settling on the moon.

The institute recently highlighted a paper on the topic, published on arxiv in August, and added the research is undergoing peer review for consideration in the International Journal of Astrobiology. The study is led by SETI Institute Affiliate Scientist Lewis Pinault.

"The moon has been quietly accumulating material from space for billions of years, much of it likely billions of years older than the moon itself," said Pinault in a statement. "We're asking whether that ancient collection might contain microscopic traces of technologies that existed long before humans ever looked up at the sky."

Even if no aliens turn out to be there, the search could help advance models of how dust goes through interstellar space, as well as effects on lunar geology or impact science, the institute added.

"The study reports no evidence of extraterrestrial technology," the institute added in the statement. "Instead, it demonstrates that searching for these microscopic technosignatures is now scientifically testable."

That's in large part because the NASA-led Artemis program, which will ultimately bring astronauts to the moon, as well as China's Chang'e robotic series, would provide opportunities to return samples, the institute said. (China is also eyeing bringing its taikonauts to the moon by 2030.)

SETI is best known for looking for artificial radio signatures in space that may have come from extraterrestrials. This new study, the institute added, is focusing more on past alien communities that may have preserved their knowledge in "durable particles," even if the communities are no longer in existence.

The study examines how these particles could (in theory) move from star to star, stay viable over long distances and periods, embed themselves in the lunar surface and then — if humans could find them — use AI-assisted imaging, materials analysis and microscopy to take a closer look, among other techniques.

Helping in that search is the environment of the moon itself, which — compared with Earth, at least — has slow-moving geology. As the institute points out, the surface has no flowing water or substantial atmosphere like our planet does. What's more, the moon has picked up dust in its environment for about four billion years (from not long after the solar system was formed 4.5 billion years ago), presenting a potential archive of dust in the solar system and interstellar space.

"The researchers argue that if advanced civilizations produce durable microscopic debris — whether intentionally or as a byproduct of space exploration or large-scale engineering — a tiny fraction of those particles could eventually become embedded in the lunar regolith," the institute stated.

The goal is to start these studies with about 35 cubic feet (one cubic meter) of lunar regolith, which is maybe the equivalent size of a fridge. Researchers would try out a series of careful investigations using multiple tools to "begin placing meaningful limits on the amount of durable artificial material produced by technological civilizations over the history of the Milky Way."

And as mentioned, even if this small sample doesn't turn up technosignatures, the researchers say the work is still important. It's another way to search for "extraterrestrial artifacts," to look at various aspects of solar system science, and to try out newer tools for examining moon samples that weren't available in the Apollo years.

"This is a novel addition to the search methodologies applied to seeking evidence of technology as a proxy for life and intelligence beyond our solar system and we are excited at the prospect of bringing this to fruition," stated Bill Diamond, SETI Institute president and CEO.

Poor weather has delayed the launch of China's latest moon mission.

According to reports, the growth of Tropical Depression Narra in the Gulf of Tonkin has prompted China's space agency to delay the liftoff of Chang'e 7 significantly — possibly until 2027.

"China's Chang'e 7 lunar probe does not meet launch conditions, and its launch therefore cannot take place during the planned window this year," the state-run Xinhua news agency reported today (Aug. 23), citing the China Manned Space Agency.

Chang'e 7 had originally been scheduled to launch today from the Wenchang Space Launch Site on the island of Hainan. But then Narra started brewing in the Gulf of Tonkin, just to the island's west.

Launching a rocket into a howling gale is less than ideal. Chinese space officials initially pushed the launch back a day, to Monday (Aug. 24), before concluding that the new target was unattainable as well.

It's now unclear when Chang'e 7 might lift off; messaging on the topic has been characteristically murky. (China is fairly tight-lipped about its space activities, revealing far less publicly than, say, NASA or the European Space Agency does. For example, China announces who's flying on its crewed missions just one day before liftoff.)

The Chang'e 7 launch requires a certain lineup of Earth and the moon, so it cannot simply occur as soon as the skies around Wenchang clear. Some online reports suggest that Chang'e 7 could lift off as soon as September, while others — including today's Xinua story — have it launching sometime in 2027.

Whenever it occurs, the liftoff will draw a lot of attention. Chang'e 7 is an ambitious and exciting mission, and it could have serious implications for lunar exploration down the road.

Chang'e 7 consists of an orbiter and a lander, which will likely touch down on the rim of Shackleton Crater, near the moon's south pole (though China has not announced an official landing site).

This region is thought to harbor lots of water ice, most of it on crater floors that have not seen the sun for billions of years. Chang'e 7's lander will deploy a rover and a hopping robot to hunt for this precious resource, which could help support human settlements in the area.

China aims to build such an outpost in the coming years, as does the United States, via NASA's Artemis program. U.S. officials have stressed the need for the nation to win this new space race so that it can establish the norms for living and working on Earth's nearest neighbor.

Update for Aug. 23: Bad weather has pushed the Chang'e 7 launch back considerably, possibly until 2027. Read our delay story.

China's moon exploration program is readying an ambitious robotic mission, one composed of an orbiter, a lander, a rover, a hopper, and a wide range of international experiments including a U.S.-supported payload.

In April of this year, Chang'e-7 hardware was transported to the Wenchang launch site, targeting an Aug. 24 launch atop a Long March 5 Y14 rocket. The lander's destination is the edge of Shackleton Crater in the lunar south pole region.

After launch, the Chang'e-7 orbiter will spend several months orbiting the moon before releasing its lander for an attempted touchdown near the end of the year. While Chang'e-7 will carry out ambitious, groundbreaking lunar science, it will also serve to lay the groundwork for the first Chinese human landing on the lunar surface by 2030.

James Head is a leading moon scientist at the department of geological sciences at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. He says China's upcoming moon launch will set a new benchmark for lunar science voyages.

"Chang'e-7 is the most ambitious, comprehensive, and complex robotic lunar mission ever attempted by any nation or entity," Head told Space.

Likewise, Zhang Jingbo, a spokesman for the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) agency, said earlier this year that the mission will "fully leverage the technological expertise and practical experience accumulated over decades" to "spare no effort to strive for the goal of achieving the first Chinese landing on the moon by 2030."

Pockets of water ice

Once unleashed from the Chang'e-7 lander, the hopper is slated to "jump" from sunlit areas to shadowed craters in a quest to find pockets of water ice. The hopper utilizes active shock-absorption technology to safely land on slopes. The lander will also deploy China's inaugural deep-space "landmark image navigation" system.

While scientists around the globe believe there's water ice on the moon, said Ye Peijian, an academician with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, no one has definitively found and fully evaluated that resource as yet.

"Now China is going to look for it, [...] And we're using many methods, from searching the surface to exploring inside craters," Ye told China Central Television (CCTV).

Back-to-back duties

The Chang'e-7 mission will adopt an integrated exploration approach, added CCTV, combining orbiting, landing, roving, and hopping, to survey the environment and resources of the lunar south pole, while also carrying out international cooperation.

Moreover, a Chang'e-8 mission is set for around 2028, designed to test technologies for building habitats using lunar soil.

Taken together, the two robotic projects  — Chang'e-7 and Chang'e-8  — are assigned duties to assist in orchestrating China's planned, multi-phased, International Lunar Research Station (ILRS).

Variety of instruments

Chang'e-7 mission hardware is outfitted with a variety of instruments from other nations and organizations, such as:

• On the lander, a Russian Academy of Sciences' PmL-Ch7 suite to detect lunar dust and a Langmuir probe to gauge the temperature and density of nearby plasma.
• An Italian laser retroreflector array on the lander is provided by the Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati.
• A small, state-of-the-art, wide-field optical telescope mounted on the lander developed by the International Lunar Observatory Association (ILOA Hawaii) and the Laboratory for Space Research at the University of Hong Kong (HKU-LSR).
• LunaHcam, a camera attached to the Chang'e-7 orbiter and jointly developed by the Bahrain Space Agency and the Egyptian Space Agency to churn out high-resolution hyperspectral images of the moon's surface.
• Moon Aiming Thai-Chinese Hodoscope (MATCH) onboard the orbiter and developed by the National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand. It will assess high-energy particles related to space weather and cosmic radiation tossed out by the sun.
• Moon-based Dual-channel Earth Radiation Spectrometer on the orbiter has been provided by Switzerland's Physical Meteorological Observatory.

Compact lunar camera

The ILO-C instrument from ILOA Hawaii and the Laboratory for Space Research at the University of Hong Kong will be housed directly on the Chang'e-7 lunar lander, bound for the illuminated rim of Shackleton Crater.

"The HKU Lab for Space Research is proud to partner with ILOA for this historic lunar mission and we look forward to working with them to maximize the scientific return this exceptional wide field optical lunar camera will deliver," said Quentin Parker, professor emeritus of the University of Hong Kong.

Through visible color imaging, the ILO-C camera project aims to spark public interest in lunar exploration, astronomy, and space science, Parker said, thereby laying a social foundation for future lunar science missions.

Moon-based vantage point

Operating in the extreme lunar environment, the compact camera will conduct first-ever astronomical color imagery from the moon, said Elisa Perednia, President and Chair of ILOA. The camera is designed to capture unprecedented wide-field, full color imagery of the Milky Way's Galactic plane from a stable, moon-based vantage point, she said.

One sad note: The camera onboard China's moon lander was pioneered by ILOA's founding director Steve Durst who passed earlier this year. He was a visionary leader that worked with Chinese aerospace representatives since the 1980s.

The Beijing Institute of Space Mechanics & Electricity (BISME) built the camera to ILO-C team member specifications.

"We are proud to have joined the mission and to help realize Steve's wonderful vision," Parker at HKU-LSR told Space.com.

China's Chang'e-8 moon lander mission scheduled for 2029 could send Africa's first space exploration mission to the lunar south pole.

Under the Africa2Moon venture, the Bounced African Low Lunar Sphere, or BALLS for short, is a technology demonstrator in which a trio of spherical probes on the lunar surface will form a radio astronomy array at the moon's south pole region. Each of the metal spheres contains low-frequency radio telescope antennas that will search for signals from some of the oldest and most distant parts of the universe.

Astronomers say the lunar far side is the most radio-quiet site in Earth's vicinity, a location perfect for "listening" to the universe without interference. The BALLS array will work together to observe low frequency radio signals from space that are not observable from the surface of the Earth, according to Carla Mitchell, mission director of the Africa2Moon initiative and Africa Program manager at the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO). The moon is an ideal place to perform such studies, they said, as the low frequency signals to be measured are unobservable from Earth due to interference created by our planet's atmosphere.

Pathfinder

The Africa2Moon project was selected by the Chinese National Space Administration in April 2025 as one of nearly a dozen of Chang'e-8's international payloads.

BALLS will enable observations below 20 megahertz (MHz) that are inaccessible from Earth due to ionospheric distortion and radio interference. Low-frequency radio waves (below about 50 MHz) come from some of the oldest and most distant parts of the universe.

The BALLS array will serve as pathfinder hardware for future lunar technologies and radio astronomy experiments. They will also act as a technology demonstrator for the full Africa2Moon mission, which plans for an array of 55 antennas to be deployed on the far side of the moon.

From paperwork to hardware

"As a little girl I thought space was not possible for people in Africa. I never thought I would be here today, presenting our lunar mission at NASA," said Mitchell.

Mitchell detailed years of team work on the BALLS initiative, rolling forward from paperwork to hardware, speaking July 22 at the NASA Exploration Science Forum 2026, held at NASA's Ames Research Center and staged by the NASA Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI).

SARAO is the national radio astronomy facility of South Africa, operating and managing such facilities as MeerKAT and the South African Square Kilometer Array (SKA) project. SARAO is involved in a range of cosmic inquiries, from pulsar research to studying fast radio bursts, dark matter and dark energy.

Spaced out

Once deployed on the moon, the BALLS trio would be spaced out on the lunar surface. Signals captured from the BALLS array are to be communicated to the Chinese lander and then relayed back to Earth for further processing.

Each of the BALLS consists of a spherical gyroscope-like frame made of interlocking rings, encasing two large triangular solar panel arrays with a grid-like surface texture. The panels are oriented in opposite directions — one pointing upward and one downward — giving the structure a tetrahedron-like inner form.

The mission is led by the Foundation for Space Development Africa in collaboration with SARAO, the South African National Space Agency, the National Institute for Theoretical and Computational Sciences, as well as institutions in Kenya, Ghana, Botswana and across the continent.

Teams at Petrawell in Cape Town, Aerospace Systems Research Institute at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and Electronic Systems Laboratory at Stellenbosch University were involved in manufacturing the components of the structural and functional BALLS models. They were assembled in April 2026, to be delivered to China's Chang'e-8 team for testing.

"The power of collaboration, education and hope cannot be underestimated for Africa's future in space science and technology," she said.

Looking to a second mission

As for the full Africa2Moon mission consisting of 55 antennas emplaced on the far side of the moon, Mitchell said they would require a launch as with the first mission.

"So yes, it would probably be contingent on China partnering again with us," Mitchell told Space.com.

The design of the second mission instruments would be a little different too.

"We would want to have them a little larger in diameter and so they would have to go in a flat version that will deploy into a ball versus the current version that travels as a ball, due to space constraints," Mitchell said.

"The deployment onto the lunar surface would also be different, as in self-deploying from the lander as opposed to a robot deployment. This would enable a faster and more random and further dispersed deployment pattern, which enhances the science," she said.

Shoe-string budget

"I am amazed that it is being done on a shoe-string budget by volunteers. This demonstrates the inspiration of space and if this is successful, it will ignite the reality of space on the African continent," said Clive Neal, a lunar science exploration specialist and professor in civil and environmental engineering and Earth sciences at the University of Notre Dame.

Attending Mitchell's talk at the recent forum at Ames Research Center, Neal said the broader lunar exploration community is willing to help if needed.

"Her talk was inspirational," Neal said, "especially as the broader planetary science community over here [in the U.S.] is moaning about the lack of funding!"

The origin of the strange differences between the near and far sides of the moon are a step closer to being solved, thanks to new findings from China's Chang'e 6 mission that returned samples from the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) basin.

The near side of the moon is familiar to us as the only side that we can see from Earth. Dark regions called maria are vast lava plains filling lowland impact basins, and give us the pattern of the "man in the moon." Yet the far side of the moon, which can only be seen by orbiting spacecraft, has barely any maria and is covered by craggy, cratered and ancient highlands. That's not the only difference between the two hemispheres; the thickness of the moon's crust is thinner on the near side, volcanic activity appears to have occurred at different points in time, and the mantle beneath the far side seems heavily depleted in certain elements compared to the near side.

However, while we have many samples from the lunar near side, particularly those brought back to Earth by the Apollo missions, the Soviet Luna missions and China's own Chang'e 5, we had nothing from the far side with which to test theories.

Then, in June 2024, China's Chang'e 6 mission landed in the SPA basin and brought back samples totaling 1,935.3 grams (68.27 ounces).

The SPA basin is the largest impact site on the moon, spanning 2,500 kilometers (1,600 miles) and extends from the lunar south pole and onto the far side of the moon. It's also the oldest known impact feature on the moon, with an age of 4.25 billion years. What impact — pardon the pun — could the sheer violence of the SPA basin's formation have had on lunar geology and the thermal evolution of the moon's interior? Could it have caused the dichotomy between the moon's two hemispheres?

Chang'e 6's samples are the first from the lunar far side, and have offered a unique opportunity to test models that could potentially explain the difference between the moon's two hemispheres.

Consequently, following analysis of the samples, researchers led by a team from the Chinese Academy of Sciences have announced four major discoveries.

The first is that the samples contain volcanic rocks called basalts that date to prolonged volcanic outbursts on the lunar far side in two distinct phases, one around 4.2 billion years ago and another 2.8 billion years ago.

"We propose that the 4.2-billion-year-old basalt was associated with the formation of the SPA basin because it is a high-aluminum basalt, requiring the incorporation of crustal plagioclase into its source," Wei Yang, a professor at the Institute of Geology and Geophysics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told Space.com in an email interview. Meanwhile, "the 2.8-billion-year-old basalts originated from the deep mantle, the product of the early stage crystallization of the lunar magma ocean."

The evolution of this lunar magma ocean that formed the moon's mantle is central to the next discovery, which is that geochemical analysis of the basalt samples points to a source in the lunar mantle deep below ground that is heavily depleted in particular elements such as thorium. It is unknown whether this depleted mantle is found only beneath the SPA basin, or whether it is more extensive across the moon.

"To be honest, we don't know," said Yang.

One possibility is that the moon has had this depleted mantle since birth, in which case both the near and far sides should share this composition. The other possibility is that it was produced after the lunar magma ocean formed and began to crystallize.

"Personally, I am more inclined to believe the latter, given that such a massive impact has the potential to affect the mantle down to a depth of 250 kilometers [155 miles]," said Yang. "If it is only present in the SPA basin, then it must have formed as a result of the SPA impact. To figure this out, we need to collect more samples from the moon's far side, particularly from areas outside the SPA."

The third discovery is of something we wouldn't expect to find on the moon: water. However, we are talking parts-per-million here — the Apollo samples were considered "bone dry," and the far side mantle seems to be even drier than that.

"The water content of this mantle is lower than those of the mantle sources of all the basalts from the near side," said Yang.

The final discovery relates to the moon's magnetic field. Earth's natural satellite currently doesn't have a global magnetic field, and traces of magnetism remain only in a handful of anomalous patches called lunar swirls. However, in the distant past it did have a global magnetic field. The Chang'e 6 samples retain a record of it, and show that the magnetic field, after decaying for a time, rebounded in strength about 2.8 billion years ago. This indicates that the moon's internal dynamo fluctuated, possibly episodically, rather than just experiencing a slow but gradual decline.

The timing coincides with the second phase of volcanism on the far-side.

"The magnetic field rebounded 2.8 billion years ago, which suggests that the interior of the moon still contained a lot of energy," said Yang. "Perhaps convection and the upward flow of hot material existed in the lunar mantle at that time."

Not only could this upward flow have triggered volcanic eruptions, it could have been enough to vaporize much of the water in the mantle, drying it out.

If the creation of the SPA basin is the cause of much of this, then it has repercussions that go far beyond the moon. Other giant impact features are seen on other bodies, particularly on Mercury and Mars. We may have underestimated the role that these giant impacts played on the evolution of the planets' interiors.

The Chang'e 6 results were presented in four papers (1, 2, 3, 4) that were published recently in the journal Nature.

The Chang'e 5 lunar mission is the Chinese National Space Administration's (CNSA) effort to send a robotic spacecraft to the moon to collect samples and return them to Earth for scientific study. It's China's first attempt at a sample-return mission, and will be the first probe to bring back material from the moon since the Soviet Union's Luna 24 mission in 1976.

Chang'e 5 is part of the CNSA's Chang'e lunar exploration program. Named for a Chinese goddess of the moon, the series of missions aims to steadily increase their technological capabilities, laying the groundwork for future human landings.

What the Chang'e 5 mission has accomplished so far

The Chang'e 5 probe launched on Nov. 23, 2020 from Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan province atop a Long March 5 rocket. Weighing in at 18,100 lbs. (8,200 kilograms), the spacecraft consists of four modules, two of which remained in lunar orbit. 

The other two — the sample collector and an ascent vehicle — landed on the moon on Dec. 1 near a massive mountain called Mons Rümker. The mountain is situated in the Oceanus Procellarum ("Ocean of Storms"), a vast volcanic plain that has been explored by a number of other moon missions, including Apollo 12.

Related: Watch China's Chang'e 5 spacecraft land on the moon in this amazing video

Chang'e 5 is one of four active spacecraft China has on the lunar surface at the moment. The other three are the Chang'e 3 lander, which arrived in 2013, and the Chang'e 4 lander and Yutu 2 rover, which landed together on the far side of the moon in January 2019. 

Within hours of landing, Chang'e 5 swiftly got to work, operating its scoop arm to collect samples from the moon's surface. The lander has successfully collected 4.4 lbs. (2 kg) of lunar material, some of which was dug from up to 6.5 feet (2 meters) underground using a drill.

The spacecraft is solar powered, so it had to get all of its work done within two Earth weeks, before the sun set on Mons Rümker. (One day on the moon lasts about 29 Earth days, so sites on the lunar surface receive two weeks of continuous sunlight followed by two weeks of darkness.)

During its time on the lunar surface, Chang'e 5 deployed a tiny Chinese flag weighing 0.4 ounces (12 grams) — the country's first fabric flag planted on the moon. Previous Chang'e missions had Chinese flags painted on the side of the spacecraft. 

Related: NASA's spacecraft spot's China's Chang'e 5 lander on the moon

On Dec. 3, just two days after landing, Chang'e 5 placed its samples in the ascent vehicle, which then launched from the moon's surface back to lunar orbit. The module docked with an orbiter on Dec. 5, conducting the first fully robotic docking around the moon in history. The lunar samples were passed to a return capsule on the orbiter, which will remain in orbit for about a week before heading back to Earth. 

The samples are expected to return to Earth before the end of 2020, arriving at Siziwang Banner, Inner Mongolia — the same site used by the CNSA to return astronauts home aboard its Shenzhou spacecraft.

What China hopes to learn from Chang'e 5

Rocks from the area near Mons Rümker are thought to have formed just 1.2 billion years ago, making them much younger than 3-billion-year-old samples collected by Apollo astronauts in the Oceanus Procellarum. The material could help scientists understand why this area of the moon was geologically active long after volcanism in most other parts of the moon ended.

The mission's successes will also help with developing plans to send astronauts to the moon in the future. "The rendezvous and docking, together with the preceding moves of landing and take-off… has laid a technical foundation for our future projects of deep space exploration and [crewed] lunar mission," Liu Ran, director of the CNSA's Lunar Exploration and Space Program Center told Chinese media.

Additional resources: 

• Read more about the Chang'e program from the Hong Kong Science Museum.
• Watch this video about the first three phases of the Chang'e program from Beijing Review.
• Find out more about past and future Chinese lunar missions, according to NASA. 

As three Chinese astronauts zip around the Earth aboard a prototype space station, the country is gearing up to launch its first moon rover in the coming months.

China's robotic Chang'e 3 mission, reportedly slated to blast off toward the end of 2013, marks a big step forward in the nation's lunar exploration program. Chang'e 3 will become China's first craft to attempt a soft landing and rover deployment on the surface of the moon.

China’s multi-phase moon venture began with the orbiters Chang'e 1 and Chang'e 2, which launched in 2007 and 2010, respectively. Now Chinese space program officials are ready to shift to phase two. [Gallery: Moon Photos by Chang'e 2 Probe]

Meanwhile, the nation's manned spaceflight program continues to move forward. Three "taikonauts" arrived at China's Tiangong 1 space module on June 13, beginning a 12-day stint aboard the orbiting laboratory.

The three crewmembers are slated to spend a total of 15 days in orbit, which would make their Shenzhou 10 mission the longest manned spaceflight in China's history.

Final testing

Last month, media outlets in China reported that final testing has begun on the Chang'e 3 probe (which, like the other Chang'e spacecraft, takes its name from the nation's mythical moon goddess).

According to a statement from the China National Space Administration, the nation carried out a 40-day ground test to mimic the lunar environment, in an attempt to make sure that Chang’e 3 can endure the extreme temperatures on the moon.

As noted by Dragon in Space, a website that monitors China's space program, the Chang'e 3 lunar probe consists of two main parts: a service module and a lunar landing vehicle. Dragon in Space reports the mission will be launched this December. The probe would land softly on the moon’s surface and deploy a six-wheeled rover to explore the areas surrounding the landing spot.

Previously, high-definition images of the preferred landing spot — called Sinus Iridum — were snapped by the Chang'e 2 lunar orbiter. Other touchdown locales are reportedly being considered.

The Chang'e 4 spacecraft also incorporates a robotic lander and rover, built as a backup to Chang'e 3.

Watching from above

Ready to watch the Chinese moon landing and rover action from above is NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). [Latest Moon Photos from LRO]

"It is gratifying to finally see an exploration vehicle landing on the moon," said Mark Robinson of Arizona State University, the principal investigator for the high-powered Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera. "It has been 40 years since [the Soviet Union's] Lunokhod 2. And there is much to see and do."

"It will certainly be fun to watch their progress from 100 kilometers above. The moon is a complicated and mysterious world," Robinson told SPACE.com.

"With the new LRO data we can now map out and plan — at the meter scale — dozens of exploration traverses to answer key science questions and uncover resources," he added. "Perhaps soon NASA will also have vehicles exploring the surface of the moon? The moon is the first step in our journey as humans leave the Earth."

Hauling back the goods

Looking further into the future, China's step-by-step robotic moon effort also includes a return to Earth of lunar surface materials.

Chang'e 5 is on the books as a lunar sample-return mission, rocketing back to Earth specimens of the moon before 2020 in phase three of China's moon exploration program.

Earlier this year, the state-run newspaper China Daily reported that an experimental spacecraft will be launched before 2015 to conduct vital re-entry tests on a capsule design to be used in the Chang'e 5 mission.

That capsule would haul back the goods from the moon, plunging through Earth's atmosphere at a projected speed of about 25,000 mph (40,230 km/h). To date, no Chinese spacecraft has ever re-entered at that velocity. Moreover, no simulation using ground-test facilities can recreate that blistering heat, China Daily noted.

Relay approach

Citing Hu Hao, chief designer of the lunar exploration program's third phase and a deputy to the National People's Congress (NPC), China Daily said the re-entry test of a return capsule would make use of the Chang'e-2 lunar orbiter base structure.

"Scientists believe we need to launch the spacecraft to prove that our current technical plan can actually bring Chang'e 5 home safely," Hu told China Daily during the NPC annual session.

According to Hu, the Chang'e 5 mission is slated to enter the prototype phase this year. The mission involves a "relay" approach, he said, one that requires precision rendezvous and docking in lunar orbit.

After Chang'e 5 enters lunar orbit, two modules would separate and land on the moon, with one collecting soil samples. Those specimens would be placed in the ascent module, which would blast off from the lunar surface and dock with the orbiting craft. The sample would then be transferred to the re-entry capsule for the ride back to Earth.

Yan Jun, head of the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and chief scientist of the lunar exploration program, said some lunar materials would be scooped up from the moon’s surface, while other material would be acquired from a depth of about 6.6 feet (2 meters).

Leonard David has been reporting on the space industry for more than five decades. He is former director of research for the National Commission on Space and is co-author of Buzz Aldrin's new book "Mission to Mars – My Vision for Space Exploration" published by National Geographic.Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on SPACE.com.