The United States and other leading research nations should return to the moon in order to gain a better understanding of how life emerged in the solar system, according to a report from the National Research Council (NRC) published on Tuesday. The NRC report advised the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) to work in conjunction with Japan, China, India and the European Space Agency to deploy a wide array of robots and sensors to the moon. Due to its lack of atmosphere and geological activity, the moon carries some 4.5 billion years of asteroid, meteor and space debris that could be used to re-create the history of the evolution of our solar system, the report said. Human explorers could examine the moon s surface, atmosphere and craters to better understand how the solar system formed and how life came about. The moon has recorded that history more completely and more clearly than any other planetary body. Nowhere else can we see back with such clarity to the time when Earth and the other terrestrial planets were formed, the report said. Only by returning to the moon to carry out new scientific explorations can we hope to close the gaps in our understanding and learn the secrets that the moon alone has kept for eons. Unlike prior space missions, such as the original moon landing program of the 1960s and 1970s, any subsequent venture into space would necessitate the participation of other nations, the report said. NASA is encouraged to explicitly plan and carry out activities with the international community for scientific exploration of the moon in a coordinated and cooperative manner, it added. The NRC suggested that a developed human presence on the moon would serve as an ideal platform for subsequent study of the sun and other planets.
