Experts say we must return to the Moon

An influential group of astronomers will make a powerful case today for returning men to the Moon, with the ambition of revitalising human spaceflight in the 21st century.

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Leading article: Man should take another small step on to the Moon

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An influential group of astronomers will make a powerful case today for returning men to the Moon, with the ambition of revitalising human spaceflight in the 21st century.

At an international symposium in Cambridge, they will argue that the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) faces extinction unless it looks beyond the only manned mission it is currently committed to ­ the massively expensive international space station.

A return trip to the Moon, with the establishment of a lunar colony, is seen as a realistic vision for the development of the technology needed to explore Mars and beyond.

Although Nasa is planning a series of robotic missions to Mars, many scientists believe only manned missions will determine whether there really is life beyond Earth. Such a project can succeed only if there is an established lunar base.

"No one has yet built a robot that duplicates or comes close to human judgement and flexibility," said Paul Spudis, based at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, Texas.

Dr Spudis, who will address a special symposium on manned spaceflight at the UK national astronomy meeting in Cambridge, said the vision was realistic and essential. "There are perceptive people who realise a human trip to Mars is not likely in the near future for a number of reasons, not just monetary, but technological," he said. "We cannot do it at present. But they do realise that a human return to the Moon is feasible from a technical, political and budgetary perspective."

Dan Goldin, head of Nasa, stated in 1999 that the space agency had ruled out the possibility of a new mission to the Moon. He said: "Unless the nation is willing to spend billions of dollars a year extra ... we're not going to have a colony on the Moon. It's plain and simple ­ dollars and cents."

But Ian Crawford, a planetary scientist at University College London and an organiser of the Cambridge meeting, said: "The human presence on the Moon during the Apollo project resulted in the acquisition of scientific data which would not have been obtained otherwise."