Abstract
The Earth’s Moon is a natural satellite that the evidence suggests was created by a Mars-sized body that crashed into the Earth very early in the history of the Earth, about 4.5 billion years ago. The latest sky surveys give an age of our Solar System of about 4.7 billion years. With the Soviet, American, Japanese and Indian lunar mapping satellites, the Soviet automatic rovers, and the Apollo landings a significant amount of information has been gained about the Moon, [Spudis, 2003]. Even with this information, there is much more to be learned from exploring the Moon and understanding its geology and structure. During the 1960s there were plans to use the Apollo system for lunar exploration. ALSS, Apollo Logistics Support Systems and LESA (Lunar Exploration System for Apollo) were efforts within NASA to define the equipment and operational requirements to explore the Moon. Unfortunately none of these plans ever reached realization. Using the 1991 report to Congress entitled America on the Threshold, Thomas P. Stafford, former Apollo astronaut and Lieutenant-General USAF (Retd), as Chairman of the Synthesis Group, Space Exploration Initiative [Stafford, 1991] assembled a number of documents reasoning that we should return to the Moon. Figure 6.1 (see the color section) shows the cover and inside page from that report. Note that the Moon is shown in front of the planet Mars with the Solar System in the background. General Stafford provides the argument for the Moon as a stepping-stone to Mars and space. It is important to recognize it is not just a stepping stone, but an important operational near-Earth space base that does not require orbital re-boosting.
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6.6 Bibliography
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(2009). Earth-Moon system: establishing a Solar System presence. In: Future Spacecraft Propulsion Systems. Springer Praxis Books. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-88814-7_7
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