Unveiling the face of the Moon: new views and future prospects

Abstract

The Moon holds the key to unlocking the secrets of the origin and early evolution of the inner Solar System, and as such is the most studied planetary body outside of the Earth. At the peak of lunar exploration in the 1960s and 1970s, a vast amount of information was returned by both manned and unmanned spacecraft. Photographs, remote sensing data, even samples of lunar rocks and soil arrived on Earth for analysis. These data proved to be a treasure trove for scientists, and great advances were made in our understanding of the Moon. Despite this, the Moon remained enigmatic, and for every question answered, many more were raised. The one thing we lacked above all else at the end of this period was a global dataset of any kind of the Moon, and it took over 20 years before new lunar missions remedied this. Data from these are now being analysed and once more we are advancing our knowledge of the Moon. These advances will continue into the new millennium with further unmanned missions designed to unravel some of the Moon9s most complex problems. Looking to the future, we can envisage the Moon becoming far more than just a rocky satellite of Earth. It has the potential to become a geological laboratory, astronomical observatory, and maybe even home to the first human outpost away from the Earth. Perhaps this is science fiction at the moment, but we can be certain that without extensive manned and unmanned exploration, the Moon will withhold its secrets forever.