US To Launch New Moon Mission In 2010

MOON DAILY

File image of the South Pole-Aitken Basin. Credits: Clementine mission, NASA, DoD.

Udaipur, India (AFP) Nov 25, 2004
The United States could launch a mission in 2010 that would land two stationary robots on the moon to collect rock samples before returning to earth, a US scientist said here Thursday.

Carle Pieters of Brown University's Department of Geological Sciences, who is involved in the US space programme, said the aim of the Moonrise Mission was to land at the moon's largest and oldest crater - the South Pole Aitken Basin.

"The purpose is to study how long ago the basin was formed and return materials derived from the deep interior to earth for analysis," Pieters said.

"It will also help us to understand the unique process of how basins are formed."

Pieters is also the chairwoman of the International Lunar Exploration Working Group, an organisation formed to promote cooperation between nations.

She said scientists in the United States were still identifying which landing spots in the basin would be good for the twin robots to gather samples.

"Each robot will collect one kilogramme of rocks and fragments which will give us an insight of the basin's geological history," she told delegates at the International Conference on Exploration and Utilisation of the Moon in northern Indian city of Udaipur.

More than 200 delegates from 16 countries are participating in the five-day conference ending Friday.

Email This Article

MOON DAILY

China To Launch Lunar Orbiter By Late 2007

Udaipur, India (AFP) Nov 25, 2004
China will launch its lunar orbiter Chang'e 1 to explore the moon's environment and study the thickness of its soil by the end of 2007, a senior space official said Thursday. Sun Huixian, deputy chief engineer at the Center for Space Science and Applied Research at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said Beijing also has plans to send two more unmanned missions by 2010.

SPACE TRAVEL Space Race 2: Congress Weighs In First Space Council To Set Course Towards A European Space Program NASA Gets Back Into The Rocket Science Game NASA Selects Exploration Systems Proposals	MARSDAILY Finishing Up In Endurance Crater Hale in Argyre basin A Martian Retrospective Big Planet, Tiny Vehicles
NUCLEAR SPACE NASA plans to send new robot to Jupiter Los Alamos Hopes To Lead New Era Of Nuclear Space Tranportion With Jovian Mission Boeing Selects Leader for Nuclear Space Systems Program Boeing-Led Team to Study Nuclear-Powered Space Systems	EXO WORLDS Planetesimal Belts Are Discovered Around Beta Pictoris Astronomers Discover Planet Building Is Big Mess Extrasolar Planets: A Matter of Metallicity Colorado U. Proposal For Imaging Distant Planets Funded For Further Study
NANO TECH Purdue Researchers Align Nanotubes To Improve Artificial Joints 'Self-Cleaning' Suits May Be In Your Future Nano World: Chipping Away At Chip Size Futuristic Nano 'Smart' Yarns On The Horizon	SPACE MEDICINE ESA at the world's largest medical exhibition Rice Engineers Demo First T-Ray Endoscope NASA Helps To Create Complete Human Genome Map Space Science And Medical Technology: To See Or Not To See
LAUNCH PAD Successful Flight Of Maxus 6 Sounding Rocket Brazil, Russia Sign Pact On Space Cooperation Launch Of Ariane Heavy Put Back To January 2005 AMC-16 Satellite Good To Go For December 16 Launch	ROCKET SCIENCE Boeing To Use X-43A Flight Test Results For Future Hypersonic Applications X-43A Scramjet Test Flight Ends Just Shy Of Mach 10 NASA Aims To Bust New Speed Barriers In Test Flight Monday NASA Tries To Break Speed Record With Scramjet Flight

The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2006 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA PortalReports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additionalcopyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement