The dark side of the Moon

Leo Enright on the first in a series of European Space Agency (ESA) town hall meetings early next month to discuss European involvement in America's plan to establish a permanent human outpost near the south pole of the Moon.

Planners have identified a potential landing site on the rim of Shackleton Crater, an impact basin slightly smaller than Lough Neagh which is, of course, named after the famous Irish Antarctic explorer.Because the orbit of the Moon is only tilted 1.5° with respect to the Sun's equator, the 12-kilometre-deep interior of Shackleton Crater lies in perpetual darkness, while peaks along the rim are almost continually illuminated by sunlight – the so-called “peaks of eternal light”. Sunlight at this location could be converted into electricity using solar panels, while many experts believe that the darkened crater interior could harbour large quantities of water ice delivered by comets over aeons.

Tentative plans call for a robot to explore Shackleton Crater in as little as four years time, if funds are available. Then, once the site is confirmed, the task of constructing a base will require a minimum of two missions a year, starting in about 2018. The first will be a robotic test of the human lander, but it will also deliver a solar power unit and an unpressurised rover for use by future crews.

The first four-member crew would arrive for a seven-day stay, bringing with them the first habitation module for the base. A second human landing in the first year would deliver more power units and a crawler/transporter that could support mining of the crater interior.

By the fourth year, crews could be staying as long as a month, and by the end of the fifth year six-month stays would be possible. By that time, sorties to any point on the lunar surface should be feasible, either directly from Earth or from the moon base.

The coming year will be crucial to America's hopes of persuading Europe to become involved in this ambitious project. A lively debate on the subject has developed on the website of the Irish Federation of Astronomical Societies, with many voicing scepticism. Here is a flavour of the exchanges:

“Voyager” in Maynooth wrote: “I have no objection to going but I get the impression THEY don't know why they are going and that's not good enough. It's public money”.

“dmcdona” from Kildare replied: “I read recently that Stephen Hawking states that humanity must leave the planet at some time in the future in order to survive. Perhaps that's a good enough reason”.

This debate will commence formally in Edinburgh on Monday week, January 8th, when ESA holds the first workshop in a series of consultations with key stakeholders including scientists, policy-makers and the general public, especially youth organisations. The aim is to define European long-term strategy for space exploration and set the scene for the decisions to be taken at an ESA Council of Ministers meeting scheduled for 2008.