The UK will launch its first mission to the moon to investigate the mysterious vibrations shaking the Earth's satellite
The project, which will help engineers create a lunar base that is immune to "moonquake", will be considered in December.
The MoonLITE mission will be announced in December by Science Minister Lord Drayson. It is planned that the spacecraft will be launched into the lunar orbit between 2012 and 2014. NASA has already announced its support for the program. The estimated cost of the project is £ 100 million, or about $ 200 million.
The goal of the project is to launch an unmanned spacecraft into the lunar orbit and launch four probes on the surface of the Earth satellite in various regions, capable of moving at the speed of sound and penetrating the ground to a depth of 15 m.
Measuring seismic and temperature data will allow scientists to pinpoint the cause of the "moonquakes" that have baffled the scientific community. Data collected by NASA's Apollo program suggests that there are several types of vibration. According to scientists, some of them are caused by the Earth's gravitational field, others - by the expansion of stones heated by sunlight, and the third type of "moonquakes" suggests that geological activity may occur under the lunar crust.
“Moonquake research is extremely important,” says Dr. Ian Crawford, one of the scientists who pioneered the MoonLITE project. "First of all, because if we want to build a solid lunar base, then it is necessary to make it immune to vibration."