Advocating Lunar Development

This news item from TMCnet's feeds caught my eye today:

Human Service Mission to the International Lunar Observatoriesp>

Like many press releases, as a stand-alone item it left me scratching my head. According to the release, a company named SpaceDev has received a small contract from Lunar Enterprise Corporation to "create a conceptual mission architecture and mission design for a human servicing mission to the Lunar south pole targeted for the period of 2010 to 2015."

Now as I understand it, a human servicing misson is a space mission to be performed by actual humans riding in a spacecraft, as opposed to a robotic mission controlled remotely. But what in the world is on the Lunar north pole that could need servicing, I wondered? Obviously, additional research was called for.

Investigation revealed that the funding organization for the just-announced project, Lunar Enterprise Corporation, is a group formed to advance the development of human projects on the moon. One of their proposed projects is the establishment of an observatory at the south pole of the moon. So if I understand correctly, the mission design project announced today would essentially help in the planning and budgeting for maintenance of this proposed observatory.

Is this a serious project? Yes. (Likely to happen? I don't know. Feel free to chime in.) Starting lunar development with an astronomy project certain sounds sensible. Space Age Publishing Company, the parent organization for Lunar Enterprise Corporation, has longer-range ideals, though. Consider this quote from the company's Web site:

"It is common knowledge in the scientific and space community that, in order to save humanity from an inevitable cataclysmic event, a better understanding of the universe and steps toward becoming a multi-planet species (each starting with the Moon) must be achieved."

Serious stuff, no?

In case you're wondering what it would look like, here is an artist's conception of the proposed lunar observatory:

AB -- 7/22/05