Lunar Exploration is 'in' Decadal Survey

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NASA unveiled it's 2013-2022 decadal survey for Planetary Sciences at the recent Lunar & Planetary Science conference in Houston on March 7, 2001, notes Clive Neal today from the University of Notre Dame. "The document, (downloaded as a PDF file) is very detailed! The Moon was dealt with as part of the Inner Planets Panel and is documented in Chapter 5 of the report. The Moon was dealt with as part of the Inner Planets Panel and is documented in Chapter 5 of the report. I have gone through Chapter 5 in detail and I believe that the Lunar Community could not have wished for a better showing, especially given the current fiscal and political climate.

Neal quotes directly from Page 5-24 of the Decadal Survey, with some formatting for clarity: Priority [Lunar] mission goals include:

· Sample return from the South Pole-Aitken Basin region;

· A lunar geophysical network, as identified in this chapter. Other important science to be addressed by future missions include:

· The nature of polar volatiles (e.g., Lunar Polar Volatiles concept described in Appendices D and G);

· The significance of recent lunar activity at potential surface vent sites;

· The reconstruction of both the thermal-tectonic-magmatic evolution of the Moon;

· The impact history of the inner solar system through the exploration of better characterized and newly revealed lunar terrains.

Such missions may include orbiters, landers and sample return.

Neal notes that he is "very happy with how the Moon has fared in this Decadal Survey, and this is due to the incredible response by the lunar community to the request for white papers" (see).