Many contestants in latest 'space race' to the moon

China, Japan, India, Europe, the US, and Russia are poised to probe Earth's satellite – some with the expectation of extracting lunar resources for national gain.

from the October 1, 2007 edition

Page 2 of 2

Page 1 | 2

"India has done a tremendous amount in low-Earth orbit focused on Earth resources, but it hasn't done a lot of exploring the solar system," Mr. Whitesides explains. "The moon seems like a logical place to go." And, he adds, there is "a reasonable argument that some day there will be practical benefits for the home nation."

In a keynote speech at an astronomical symposium in March 2004, Mr. Bush's science adviser, John Marburger, put the president's Vision for Space Exploration in starkly economic terms.

"As I see it," he told the audience, "questions about the vision boil down to whether we want to incorporate the solar system in our economic sphere, or not."

That sparked little reaction in the US, Whitesides says. But it turned heads in Asia and Russia.

Use of moon's resources

Yet many specialists say any economic benefits are distant. Some suggest that the moon's surface is a prime location for collecting a form of helium that could be used for fusion energy. The problem: The current, multibillion-dollar international fusion research effort focuses on a reactor technology that wouldn't use the helium the moon has to offer.

Instead, Dr. Marburger and others point out, resources on the moon would more likely be used there to avoid having to launch expensive supply ships from Earth. Such resources could be used to assemble vehicles for solar-system exploration or refuel stations for assets in Earth orbit.

For many countries, the prospect of going to the moon still carries the promise of increased influence in global politics. China has been positioning itself as the go-to space program when developing countries want to build and orbit satellites of their own Johnson-Freese points out.

The question, many say, is whether cooperation wins out over competition as spacefaring countries head toward establishing outposts on the moon – a more costly proposition than sending astronauts up to stomp on moon dust.

That cooperation may be more likely to emerge on the commercial side, notes Art Dula, a professor of space law at the University of Houston. He says he can foresee cooperative government efforts, such as setting up lunar space-science parks dedicated to research. These could be modeled after terrestrial "parks" such as the collection of international telescopes in Hawaii.

For pure research, the pursuit of knowledge, and pure exploration, governments will play a key role, he suggests. But to truly exploit whatever the moon has to offer, look to the private sector, he says. There, cooperation via multinational contracts may render the idea of a space race to the moon obsolete.

1 | Page 2