UK Lunar Science Missions: Moonlite & Moonraker

It has been 35 years since the last human presence on the Moon. Since then, our knowledge of the Solar System has expanded immeasurably, bringing us up against questions that are impossible to answer on Earth. There is now a global renewed interest in returning to the Moon, driven by the demands of science and as a stepping-stone for human exploration of the Solar System. The Moon provides a unique record of processes affecting evolution of terrestrial planets in early Solar System history (the first Gyr or so). This includes internal processes of geological evolution (e.g. differentiation and the first formation of a crust) and external processes caused by the environment (e.g. meteorite flux, interplanetary dust density, solar wind flux and composition, galactic cosmic ray flux) that are not as easily accessible anywhere else in our solar system. So far, all of the direct information concerning the lunar surface has been obtained by a number of soft landings on the near side of the Moon mainly from Apollo, Luna and Surveyor missions. Actual samples have only been returned from 9 locations from mid to low latitudes on the near side including 6 Apollo and 3 Luna landing sites. There is little doubt that returning to the Moon could, with sustained effort, vastly enhance our knowledge of the Solar System and our own planet.