EDITORIAL – Fly me to the moon… base?

NASA announced that it will begin work on a “permanently occupied” base on the moon,… NASA announced that it will begin work on a “permanently occupied” base on the moon, according to the BBC News. Astronauts will begin traveling to the moon again in 2020, and these missions will “fundamentally” differ from the Apollo missions that only visited the moon on brief trips.

When the space shuttle missions end in 2010, NASA will concentrate on developing this new wave of lunar missions. While many specifics of the mission have not been decided, it was announced that Lockheed Martin Corporation will build the ship making the voyages. Scientists hope that a moon base will be a large step in moving towards Mars exploration.

Our first concern is if this is money well spent. Although NASA will seek help from businesses and other countries to construct the lunar base, the United States will be responsible for a large portion of the bill. Shouldn’t we fix things here on Earth, rather than pump money into space?

Well, yes and no.

While we do have a huge responsibility to maintain peace and repair current problems on Earth, it shouldn’t come at the expense of science and discovery. While we face problems that can be alleviated with proper funding, scientific progress remains an important recipient of revenue. Just as exploring our own planet is valuable, it behooves us to extend our studies as much as possible.

The Apollo missions of the ’60s and ’70s helped bring the United States to the forefront of technology and discovery. Neglecting our legacy and the opportunities that will come with lunar travel is an irresponsible use of resources.

The solution is not to channel money away from things that don’t immediately fix world problems. In fact, collaborating with other nations on a non-capitalistic project is an extremely valuable opportunity to foster good relationships with other nations. Science is an international language, and the only thing to gain from this project is knowledge. Sound idealistic? Maybe – but we’ve made plenty of poor investments in the past and scientific funding shouldn’t have to suffer because of it.

While the rest of the world is moving ahead, investing in projects like stem-cell research, we’re stuck in a nasty debate while we watch others move swiftly ahead of us. NASA’s project will help to show that we are still scientific leaders and that we’re interested in the future.

And if nothing else, we can make a case for the moon base in one respect: It doesn’t have half the problems Earth does.