Special Features - Rocket to the Moon

Rocket to the Moon
(07/03/08)

UK-led MoonLite aims to finish what the Apollo missions started. The London University-based Mullard Space Science Laboratory's (MSSL) latest mission, called MoonLite, is a lunar rocket scheduled to launch in 2013.

The UK MoonLite mission will try to unlock the secrets of how the earth and moon were formed. (c) Getty Images

Important questions

It will be investigating two important questions: the possible existence of water on the planet, and trying to unlock the secrets of how the earth and moon were formed by an enormous impact about four-and-a-half billion years ago.

Professor Alan Smith, MoonLite's project leader at MSSL, describes the new high-tech penetrator which will sit under the lunar soil and send back information. It looks like a missile and it's a cylinder with a sharp nose and is full of batteries and scientific instruments.

Challenges

Smith explains, "One of the challenges is making the penetrator rugged enough, the other is operating it for a year below the lunar surface with very low power consumption and in extreme cold. We can do it, but it's going to take a bit of work. The actual penetration into the soil is actually the least of our worries because there is so much experience in the defence sector."

In its 40 year history, MSSL has contributed to 250 rocket and satellite projects and worked with all the major space agencies around the world. Highlights include Giotto, the European probe that encountered Comet Halley in 1986, and the NASA/ESA Cassini probe, which is now returning spectacular data from Saturn and its moons.

US Joins 'Phase A'

The MoonLite concept has been gathering momentum. The US has joined in what is called the Phase A, the technical development and testing part of the mission.

Professor Smith's enthusiasm is catching, "I'm always excited about new technology. I was brought up on Apollo. It's part of how I came into space science. There's a sense that Apollo scientifically never finished the job. I would like this to finish what Apollo started. To put something on the surface of the Moon and measure really interesting scientific stuff is very exciting."

For more information about the expedition and the technology check out the websites below