Does Germany Have the 'Reich-Stuff' to Go to the Moon by 2015? Show us the Money.

The German government is again thinking of building a space probe to explore the moon this time by Peter Hintze, the German government's space and aviation coordinator and a member of Chancellor Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats at the cost of 1.5 billion euros ($2.1 billion) with a hopeful launch date of 2015.

"The Moon is like the archive of our solar system. It is an excellent platform for space research and is of the highest importance when answering the question of how we guarantee the future of our own blue planet," Hintze said. "The moon in a way is the Earth's natural space station. It could be a place from which to launch a Mars mission."

Hintze admitted that "at the moment, the finances are not there." And as the country is only weeks away from a general election at the end of September, it's not something that will be decided any time soon. Hintze said any concrete decision over the issue would have to wait until after the [German national] elections. The German Deutshe Welle has more on this topic but it seems to boil down to 'Reich' - money. Let us hope the Reichstag says 'GO!'