The European Space Agency
is working to take humans beyond Low Earth Orbit
and deeper into the cosmos,
Our next destination on this journey
is the Moon.
The 1960’s and 70’s were an incredible era for space exploration.
The Ranger missions from the United States
took close up images of the Moon
before eventually impacting the surface
NASA’s Surveyor missions
demonstrated a controlled soft landing at the surface of the Moon
and tested the properties of lunar soil
to prepare for future human missions.
A series of Soviet landers and rovers
visited a number of locations;
performing scientific investigations,
driving across the surface
and returning samples to Earth.
But the pinnacle of this period of exploration was Apollo
and the arrival of humans at the surface of another Solar System body
for the first, and only time in history.
Looking back now, though,
we see that only a tiny fraction of the Moon’s surface has been explored,
all on the side of the Moon that faces the Earth
and in a region close to the equator.
We’ve also discovered
that all of the samples we have returned to Earth
are from an unusual region,
with a complex and exotic chemistry of potassium,
phosphor and rare Earth elements
such as Thorium.
The vast majority of the Moon
has yet to be explored,
including the entire far side.
One thing we can say for certain
is that if we want to understand the Moon,
then we need to go back there.
Now
After decades of waiting
an armada of missions from around the world,
including ESA’s Smart-1,
have returned to explore the Moon from orbit.
Looking down from above these missions
are providing a wealth of new data,
bringing a new understanding
and raising new questions.
They are giving us a global insight
and preparing for new missions to the surface,
led by China’s Chenge’ 3.
And this next wave of missions to the surface.
Where might they go?
The next destination will be unlike anywhere we have been before.
The extreme and alien landscape of the lunar South pole
Here
we find areas of permanent darkness and extreme cold,
where water ice and other chemicals
can become trapped.
As we come up from these lowlands
we see towering peaks,
basking in near constant light.
On these polar mountains
the Sun rarely sets below the horizon,
providing the potential for near continuous solar power
and a spectacular view over the rugged and cratered landscape below.
In 2009 the L-CROSS mission
blasted water, and other chemicals,
out of a permanently dark crater in the south pole region,
allowing it to be observed
by near-by spacecraft for the very first time.
We also now know that there are nearby locations with similar cold conditions.
Is there water here too?
If so, how much is there?
Where did it come from
and what can it teach us
about the origins of water
and life forming chemistry on Earth?
This water may have been delivered by comets and asteroids,
impacting into the surface over billions of years.
It may even have been created at the surface of the Moon.
We now know that protons thrown out by the Sun,
in the solar wind,
arrive at the lunar surface.
Here
they react with oxygen in minerals
to create a thin layer of water.
These water molecules
can be lifted by the Sun’s heat
before falling to the surface.
Over time
these particle may move to the polar regions,
where the they are trapped by the cold conditions.
And as we stand at the pole
with Earth in view
we can point our antennas to the sky
to search for faint signals from deep out in space.
But radio noise from the Earth is too loud,
and blocks out many cosmic radio sources.
But as we move over the horizon
the Earth sets out of view.
The noise disappears
and a new kind of radio sky emerges.
We see our galaxy,
and the planets as never before.
And beyond;
a quiet radio hum.
A signal from the Cosmic dark ages,
more than 13 billion years ago,
when the first cosmic structures were formed.
And now
beneath us,
the Moon as we see it today,
scarred by craters formed by billions of years of impacts;
and the largest
and oldest of these,
the South Pole Aitken Basin.
Formed by a powerful impact around 4 billion years ago.
Many believe that its formation
marks the start of a dramatic period of bombardment
onto the Earth and the Moon.
An era called the Cataclysm.
This era is recorded on the Moon’s scarred surface
and its end coincides with the appearance of the earliest observed traces of life
on Earth.
In the coming years
we will see explorers at the lunar poles.
Exploiting the extended sunlight for power,
and performing research to benefit life on Earth
and to understand our place in the Universe.
This will begin with small robotic missions,
to understand the environment
and prove new technologies
to pave the way for the future.
We then will move on,
to increasingly ambitious missions
with humans and robots working together;
learning to live and work at the surface
and performing new and important scientific research.
This new exploration will be achieved,
not in competition as in the past,
but through peaceful international cooperation.
Eventually we will see a sustained infrastructure
for research and exploration,
where humans will live and work for prolonged periods.
Here we will put into practise the lessons of years on the International Space Station
to establish a facility akin those we see in Antarctica today.
In the future
the Moon can become a place where the nations of the world can come together,
to understand our common origins,
to build the common future,
and to share a common journey beyond.
A place where we can learn to move onwards
into the Solar System.
And perhaps in the future,
at a sun-bathed peak at the lunar south pole,
at the edge of a crater
we will learn to access and utilise resources from deep below in the dark.
Zooming in
closer and closer
we see water ice molecules,
trapped in the cold.
A source of hydrogen
and oxygen.
Essential for sustaining human life;
And for rocket fuel.
Fuel to propel us
further into the Solar System;
and to the next destination
on our journey
into the cosmos.