MOONS
POTENTIAL IS UNCERTAIN, EXPERTS TESTIFY
WASHINGTON, D.C., April 1, 2004 A panel
of scientific experts testified today to the Subcommittee
on Space and Aeronautics that more data are needed to
determine if the moon has enough water and minerals
to support significant, ongoing human activity there.
The Subcommittee hearing was prompted by the Presidents
proposal to have humans return to the Moon by 2020.
The Presidents proposal does not speculate on
what long-term activities might occur on the Moon, but
ideas have included using it as a launching site for
flights to distant planets and as a site for commercial
activity and space telescopes.
Subcommittee Chairman Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA)
began the hearing stating, Thirty years ago, the
end of the Apollo era signaled the beginning of a much
more narrow, scaled-back agenda for our human space
flight program. Fortunately, President Bush made the
decision to recommit this nation to its heritage of
human exploration beyond Earths orbit. The question
now is not whether we will return to the Moon, but what
things might be done there in the name of science and
economic development. Chairman Rohrabacher
continued, Utilizing key lunar minerals and ores
is critical if the Moons potential as a scientific
and industrial laboratory in Earths neighborhood
is to be realized.
Subcommittee Ranking Minority Member Nick Lampson
(D-TX) said, This hearing helped us understand
just what the moon has to offer us as we continue exploring
the solar system. Before we go forward with the National
Space Initiative to send humans to Mars we must decide
if we are going to have a limited presence on the moon
or if we will we establish a long-term presence. I support
sending humans back to the moon, but for how long?
Dr. Paul Spudis, Senior Staff Scientist at the Johns
Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, and Visiting
Scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston,
Texas, offered the most optimistic assessment of the
Moons potential value. The Moon is both
a scientific bonanza and an economic treasure trove,
easily reachable with existing systems and infrastructure
that can revolutionize our national strategic and economic
posture in space and at home
(It) offers abundant
material and energy resources, the feedstock of an industrial
space infrastructure, he said.
But Spudis acknowledged that more data were needed
to determine the amount and distribution of water and
other resources on the Moon. That point was echoed by
the other witnesses.
Other witnesses testifying today were: Dr. Daniel F.
Lester, Research Scientist at the McDonald Observatory
at the University of Texas at Austin; Dr. Donald B.
Campbell, Professor of Astronomy, and Associate Director
of the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center at Cornell
University; Dr. John S. Lewis, Professor of Planetary
Sciences and Co-Director of the Space Engineering Research
Center at the University of Arizona; and Dr. Timothy
Swindle, Professor of Geosciences and Planetary Sciences
at the University of Arizona.
###
108-228
|