The International Lunar Decade
Published on Sep 15, 2007 at 4:56 pm.
2 Comments.
Filed under moon, space exploration.
In 1976, the Soviet Union launched Luna 24 to the Moon. That concluded about a decade and a half of extensive lunar missions by both the Soviets and the United States of America. Then, apparently space agencies lost interest in sending spacecraft to the Moon. It wasn’t until 1990 that another spacecraft visited the Moon: Japan’s Muses-A. Another four years passes before the US Navy’s Clementine mission went to the Moon. Clementine was actually designed as a testbed for several improved technologies. Mapping the Moon was simply the test for the craft, but the results were spectacular. The United States followed with the Lunar Prospector in 1998. More recently, the European Space Agency sent SMART-1 to the Moon in 2003.
Now, that sounds like a sudden resurgence of lunar missions, but must be only the tip of the iceberg if we are to become serious once again about studying the Moon. Unfortunately, with the Cold War over, there is far less public support for lunar missions in the US and Russia. In the old days, the Moon programs were as much (if not more so) a point of national to show up the other nation than to actually do science. Today, other priorities capture the public’s attention. This is despite President Bush’s declaration of a new vision for space exploration that includes a return to the Moon. The new missions to the Moon after so many years of neglect are only a tiny portion of what is needed if we truly expect to meet the goals of this new vision for space exploration. For several years, even before President Bush’s announcement, scientists have called for an international cooperative effort to promote renewed lunar exploration.
Then, in 2006, Louis D. Friedman (Planetary Society) and Wesley T. Huntress, Jr., (Carnegie Institution) proposed the International Lunar Decade. Clearly, more international cooperation between space agencies, rather than competition and redundant missions, etc., would make for more efficient use of resources in studying the Moon. We are no longer in a cold war, so we can, and should, work together. The International Lunar Decade (ILD) is modeled upon the International Polar Years of 1882-1883 and 1932-1933 and the International Geophysical Year of 1978-1958. These prior events were periods of time that scientists from around the globe studied and cooperated on research. Also, like the International Geophysical Year (which actually lasted 18 months), the International Lunar Decade is not just ten years long. The ILD lasts 12 years, from 2007 to 2019. It can be extended another year or two as needed. The end of the ILD is supposed to coincide with the first manned landing on the Moon since the last Apollo mission to the Moon (Apollo 17) in 1972.
Currently, besides the United States’ plans to send missions to the Moon, there are plans from China, India, and Italy to send missions to the Moon. Private lunar exploration has also recently received a boost by Google’s recent announcement of $30 million funding for a Lunar X-Prize to the first private lunar craft to land on the Moon, move around, and send photos back to Earth. So, there are several things going on in terms of lunar exploration, but a program like IDL would promote and encourage more. Also, the international cooperation and sharing of data and experiences means less duplication of effort, so more resources can be put into actual studies and exploration of the Moon.
The ILD was scheduled to begin 2007, near the 50th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik. However, this also coincides with the approximate launch of Japan’s Kaguya (formally called SELENE) probe and China’s Chang’e 1 spacecraft. So, the launch of any of these would effectively mark the beginning of the ILD. Well, Kaguya just launched toward the Moon, kicking off the International Lunar Decade. At present, ILD is still a proposal, having been endorsed by several major scientific organizations, but (to my knowledge) not signed off on by the governments or space agencies of the nations sending missions to the Moon. Even so, it should carry enough weight, having the support of key scientists and science organizations, to promote and encourage lunar exploration. I sure hope so! But, a decade is a long time. I am not sure that this will generate as much public attention as an International Lunar Year would have done. But, the reality is that there is simply too much to do for lunar exploration to fit it into a year, even a “year” lasting for 18 or more months, so an International Lunar Decade makes more sense.
Time will tell, of course how significant the ILD will become. I am hopeful that this will in fact spur the renewed exploration of the Moon. We really need something to get public attention back on space exploration, and in today’s society that means routine news stories. Those routine news stories won’t come from an occasional mission now and then. It can only happen if there are continual missions going to the Moon, and hopefully the ILD will help.
-Astroprof
Image Credit: NASA, ISRO, JAXA, SPC, CNSA
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[…] From the mid 1970s until the mid 1990s, the Moon was not well studied. There has now been a flurry of spacecraft to visit the Moon in the last few years, and now we have started the International Lunar Decade, which I wrote about a few months ago. Perhaps with the flurry of new activity in studying the Moon, we may have an answer to the mysteries surrounding the Moon’s South Pole-Aitken Basin, the largest known impact structure in the Solar System. […]
Astroprof’s Page » India shoots for the Moon on October 22, 2008 at 10:42 am: 2
[…] one another. The current flurry of lunar missions is no exception. They are all part of the International Lunar Decade (IDL), jointly proposed by members of the Carnegie Institution and the Planetary Society. […]