It would also provide an ideal test bed for technology that might one day sustain astronauts on a mission to Mars. There are certain scientific goals that can only be accomplished by sending humans into space, Dr Spudis said. The experiments require human intelligence to perform. A return to the Moon would give us a natural laboratory for planetary science and a unique astronomical observing platform on which to set up instruments. There are few earthquakes and there is no wind, cloud or rain.
Astronomers can examine the skies constantly and without atmospheric interference.
He said that the Moon base should be situated on the rim of Shackleton s crater, near the south pole . The first team of four astronauts, who would stay for an initial 45 days, would set up a permanent living module buried under the Moon s surface to shield from solar radiation. That could then be used by future missions, which would take new modules and experiments to expand the station. Scientists would use the base to build on the knowledge gleaned from the Apollo missions, the last of which landed on the Moon in 1972. A base would pave the way for a future manned mission to Mars.