JAPAN PLANS TO MINE THE MOON

November 10 1996
Source: The Sunday Times

by Steve Connor Science Correspondent

Japan plans to mine the moon

JAPAN is poised to become the first country in a generation to carry out a moon landing. Its scientists hope eventually to find a solution to the Earth's energy demands beneath the lunar surface.

Three probes, made in Japan, will be fired into the surface from an orbiting Japanese satellite next year marking the beginning of the most ambitious attempt to explore the lunar landscape since the Apollo landings of 1969-72.

The scale of Japan's plans to investigate the moon's potentially rich mineral and chemical resources has astonished scientists in Europe and America. The Japanese space agency also intends to build a permanently manned space station within 50 years.

Next year the first phase of the four-point plan will start with the launch of Lunar-A which will fire three, yard-long probes at targets around the moon. Each one is designed to burrow 6ft into the ground to monitor seismic signals and "moonquakes".

These will enable scientists to gauge what lies deep beneath the surface and to decide whether there are commercially viable deposits to be mined. Because world attention is focused on Mars, scientists believe Japan's space programme could give it an edge over competitors.

Professor Carlé Pieters, a planetary scientist at Brown University, Rhode Island, in the United States, said: "People see Lunar-A as the first phase of a return to manned moon missions. They are probably inevitable - the question is when.

"The moon is the most logical place to establish a base and utilise its resources."

The next phase, planned for launch in 2003, is to drop a robotic explorer to map the surface for possible landing sites and to gather information on minerals and other chemical elements that could be used to build a space station.

Scientists believe the moon has vast quantities of a valu able isotope of helium, which can be brought back to earth and used in nuclear fusion reactors to produce large amounts of virtually pollution-free energy.

One tank of the helium could meet the energy needs of the United States for a year, said Jean-Pierre Swings, head of astronomy at Liège University in Belgium. "It can be mined from the lunar dust where it has built up over many years," he said.

A similar idea was put forward by the European Space Agency several years ago. The agency also had a four-point plan for a phased return to the moon which never got beyond the drawing board.

Swings said: "The same four steps have been taken by the Japanese as if they had imagined it for themselves. Once the Japanese decide on something they stick to it and do it. The moon is really one of their priorities."

Satoru Udagawa, a scientist at Japan's national space development agency, indicated that the long-term aim is to put man back on the moon: "We think that by establishing these technologies step by step, construction of a manned base will be possible."

A scientific conference in Kyoto last month ended with a declaration on the need to look beyond Earth to solve the problems of the 21st century. "Without a replacement for energy sources now being depleted, the Earth faces a bleak future," it said. "The development of clean, abundant energy utilising the moon's resources could be one of the most important goals."

Some of Japan's largest construction and engineering companies are working on projects to build a $26 billion (£16 billion) space station by the middle of the next century that will be permanently crewed by 15 people. They are also interested in developing tourism and hotels in space.


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