Pat Norris

"There is no doubt that the public's imagination is captured by the idea of an international research laboratory on the Moon and captured by the idea of missions to Mars. The UK will play its part in these programmes - the real issue is what part?" Ian Pearson, Science & Innovation Minister, 6 December 2007.

On 01 May 2008 the RAeS Space Group committee published a new discussion paper on "Return to the Moon - A UK Perspective" with a view to sparking debate on that subject.

Those of you who are already members of the Royal Aeronautical Society will have seen the Discussion Paper in the May 2008 issue of the Society's magazine "Aerospace Professional" – see right panel.

The rationale for UK participation in robotic and human missions to the Moon is assessed. The science objectives are found to be strong, as is the use of the Moon as a test-bed for exploration beyond the Earth-Moon system. UK and international initiatives are reviewed, showing that the UK has extensive expertise to bring to bear. Recommendations for action by UK government are presented including the need for a sustainable programme of missions rather than a one-off, and the benefit of UK leadership of discrete and critical elements of any lunar project in order to attract public support.

Options for UK participation in lunar exploration range from a totally national mission, through bilateral missions for example with the USA, participation in ESA missions, and even participation in manned exploration of the Moon by joining the US Constellation programme or any other similar programme that emerges, e.g. a Chinese or Russian one.

UK participation in any national, bilateral or international robotic lunar missions should make use of the experience and technology gained from other space missions, much of which is directly applicable to lunar missions. This is advantageous from an industrial point of view, but more importantly allows the development focus to remain on the core mission objectives, such as lunar science or technology demonstration.

NASA's Constellation programme is designed to allow international partners to play a role, albeit outside the NASA-only core programme. The US initiative to return a human to the Moon seems likely to trigger human spaceflight initiatives in Europe and other parts of the world. Options for collaboration should as far as possible aim to be supplementary to UK capabilities - and not compromise visible UK lead of a discrete and major mission element.

Have Your Say

This paper is the start of a Society initiative to help inform UK policy on the preferred options for UK participation in the Return to the Moon international initiative. The timing of our initiative seeks to build on ongoing events such as the Agreement between NASA and the UK on lunar missions, and the imminent selection of new ESA astronauts. The conclusions and recommendations attempt to be inspirational but also realistic.

The RAeS Space Group committee welcomes your comments on the issues raised in this paper and the recommendations made. Comments received will be incorporated into presentations and papers to be presented by RAeS officials and officers later this year.

Please send comments to space@aerosociety.com preferably by 31 May 2008.

Best regards

Pat Norris
Chairman, Space Group
The Royal Aeronautical Society
4 Hamilton Place
London W1J 7BQ

01 May 2008

Discussion Paper:

"Return to the Moon - A UK Perspective".

RAeS Space Group discussion paper published in "Aerospace Professional" magazine dated May 2008, pages 10-14.

Download PDF file (288 KB) here..


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