Shooting for the Moon

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Thirty-four years after the last Apollo astronaut walked on the lunar surface, a new space race is underway. It will be a long race, with humans unlikely to set foot on the moon again in the next 10 to 15 years. But countries are gearing up to take their first steps.

Each country is going for its own reasons8212;some commercial, some strategic, some for national pride. But if the plans come to fruition, the moon could become a busy extraterrestrial outpost for scientists, engineers and possibly ordinary citizens in the coming decades. It would also serve as a vital way station for man8217;s long-dreamed-of trip to Mars.

Leading the way is the only country that has set foot there before, the US. Two years from now, NASA will begin launching probes to search for landing sites and potential water sources on the moon. Work is underway on new generation lunar projects, including a souped-up rover and a 38-million project to extract breathable oxygen from moon dust. NASA8217;s workforce, which has been demoralised by the frustrations and tragedies of the ill-fated space shuttle programme, is now fired up in ways it hasn8217;t been since the 1960s.

But there are plenty of doubters. Why bother with the moon? The US has been there. Six times. On each occasion, explorers have found the same barren world8212;a place of 8216;8216;magnificent desolation,8217;8217; in the words of Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin. Visionaries such as Gregg Maryniak, director of the James S. McDonnell Planetarium in St. Louis, have little patience with those who say, 8216;8216;been there, done that8217;8217; about the moon. 8216;8216;That8217;s like saying you8217;ve seen New York when you changed planes at JFK.8217;8217;

Today, the European Space Agency8217;s SMART-1 is the only craft in lunar orbit. It will soon have plenty of company. The Japanese are readying Lunar-A and SELENE for launch on missions to survey the moon8217;s geology and topography. Then comes India8217;s 100-million Chandrayaan-1 mission in September 2007. The 1,150-pound craft shaped like a 5-ft cube will orbit the moon8217;s polar regions for two years and make a chemical map of the surface. China is preparing to launch its Chang8217;e 1 probe at about the same time to study the lunar environment from orbit. By 2012, China would start work on a spacecraft capable of bringing material back from the moon. A landing by 8220;taikonauts8221; would occur after 2017.

China, India and Japan have ambitious strategic goals to develop advanced technologies for military and commercial uses. The countries are pouring money and people into the task. India8217;s budget, for example, is 600 million a year, employing 20,000 people.

Suffusing the enterprises is a sense that reaching the moon will become a dividing line of this century, separating great powers from lesser ones. 8216;8216;If you can send humans into space, you can play with the big boys,8217;8217; said NASA lunar expert Wendell Mendell. Regardless, Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin8212;one of the 12 humans to have walked on the moon8212;knows it won8217;t be easy. 8216;8216;When I think of what8217;s left of Tranquillity Base,8217;8217; Aldrin said of the lunar landing site, 8216;8216;I think of what the old guys said: 8216;When they go back to the moon, they8217;ll find out just how hard it is.8217; 8217;8217;

Los Angeles Times