As an astrophysicist I was fortunate to participate in discussions on plans both by NASA and the European Space Agency for the use of the moon as a base for scientific research. Except for lunar exploration itself and possibly research in the life sciences, the use of a lunar base for scientific research appears marginal. Most astronomical observatories are better built on free-flying spacecraft where the annoying distorting forces of gravity and dust stirred up by human activity are absent. Things are even more so on Mars, where the atmosphere presents another obstacle.
The proposed manned missions to the moon and Mars appear to have limited scientific merit. Their main merit lies in two other areas. The first, of course, is the quest by humans to conquer new frontiers. That would justify the Mars trip, not the one to the moon since we were there almost 35 years ago. The second is that it would create a trillion-dollar project for the U.S. aerospace industry, with the associated benefits of technology development and job creation. We already have one such project, be it at a lower cost, in the International Space Station, the scientific merit if which is equally limited.
The high cost of the moon-Mars venture makes it an undesirable initiative at this moment in our history. Let us stick to a more modest space research program focused on unmanned space exploration using robot technologies.
