Exploring the Moon in the 21st Century: The Lunar Exploration Roadmap

The renewed interest in exploring the Moon is manifest in the number of nations that have sent, will be sending, or wish to send missions to our closest celestial neighbor. NASA has been directed to establish a lunar outpost that will facilitate important development work that will aid in the human exploration of Mars, as well as further exploration of the lunar surface that will be more detailed than that conducted during Apollo. To this end, the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group (LEAG) has been directed by the NASA Advisory Council to develop the Lunar Exploration Roadmap. This will be a living document that is being developed through Specific Action Teams and community input. The roadmap is centered around three themes: Science (Pursue scientific activities to address fundamental questions about the solar system, the universe, and our place in them), Exploration (Use the Moon to prepare for future missions to Mars and other destinations), and Commerce (Extend sustained human presence to the Moon to enable eventual settlement). There are four crosscutting themes: 1) Learn to live and work successfully on another world; 2) Expand Earth's economic sphere to encompass the Moon, and pursue lunar activities with direct benefits to life on Earth; 3) Strengthen existing and create new global partnerships; 4) Engage, inspire, and educate the public. Under the Science theme there are four goals that encompass the science goals reported by the LEAG GEO-SAT and the recent NRC report. Many of these science goals will require detailed chronology in order to enhance our knowledge of the Moon. This paper will focus on these goals and their relative scientific importance.