The scientists believe a renewed emphasis on exploration of the moon would also provide a number of research opportunities in astronomy, astrobiology, fundamental physics, life sciences, human physiology and medicine.



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<img loading="lazy" src="http://blogs.voanews.com/science-world/files/2012/06/luna24-191x300.webp" border="0" alt="USSR's Luna 24 unmanned lunar explorer" />
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The USSR's Luna 24 unmanned lunar explorer was the last to go and return from the moon in August 1976 (Image: NASA)
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Over the past decade, there's been something of a renaissance in lunar exploration. A number of unmanned spacecraft – from the European Space Agency (ESA), Japan, China, India and the U.S. – have orbited the moon, but none have performed a controlled landing on its surface. The last spacecraft to touch down on the moon and return to Earth was Russia's Luna 24 robotic mission in August 1976.


However, a portion of the <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LCROSS/main/index.html" target="_blank" class="news_link" title="LCROSS">US Lunar Crater Observation</a> and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) and India's Chandrayaan-1 Moon Impact Probe (MIP) were deliberately crashed into the moon’s surface in order to perform experiments required by their missions.


Although some of their objectives can still be achieved robotically, the European science team says lunar exploration would benefit significantly from renewed human operations on the moon.


They recommend current and future non-manned lunar exploration missions be developed in the context of future human exploration, similar to what’s outlined in 2007's Global Exploration road map which recommends an expansion of human presence throughout the Solar System and human exploration missions to the surface of Mars.


Following the framework of a <a href="http://md1.csa.com/partners/viewrecord.php?requester=gs&collection=TRD&recid=N9321013AH&q=&uid=790786832&setcookie=yes" target="_blank" class="news_link" title="1992 study">1992 study</a> by the European Space Agency, the paper’s authors propose their lunar science objectives can logically be divided into three categories:


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Science of the moon (study of the moon itself)
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Science on the moon (studies that use the moon's surface as a platform for experiments, not related to the moon itself.
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Science from the moon (using the lunar surface as a base to conduct astronomical observations).
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December 1972 - Apollo 17 Astronaut Eugene 'Gene' Cernan was the last human on the Moon (Photo: NASA)

European Scientists Hope to Send Humans Back to the Moon