I don't know if this question has been posted yet, but I have been asking myself this question for ages. Maybe someone here can answer it.

I find it strange that we are exploring mars, but stay away from the moon. Has the moon explored to the point that there's nothing more left to discover?

Why are we planning to send manned missions to the moon in the near future when we are technicaly more then capable of putting verry advanced robots on it's surface today.

The technology we have today, is many times smaller then what it used to be when we started visiting the moon. So we are talking about small(er) payloads that do not need giant rockets, making it less expensive, thus well within the financial reach of people like richard branson or any other excentric bil/milionair for that matter.

I can't imagine NASA not wanting to be able to explore the moon as much as possible. What better then umanned expendable drones, instead of precious fragile human beings? Even controlling it would be much easyer, and some tasks could be done from earth, in real-time, instead of automated, making it more reliable and correctable. Drones could even be used to prepare the way in advance of manned missions.

It could even be commercialy exploited. Imagine being able to drive around a remotely operated vehicle with a high res camera. I would glady pay 100 bucks for 10 minutes to do that or as a gift to my son for instance. Wouldn't you? A project like that would earn back the costs in a matter of a couple of years.

Look up Zorgon's recent post. It would appear that NASA has simply forgot how we got there in the first place.

they've been warned that they're not welcome on the moon...

There's nothing there... unless you're going to go all John Lear on us, then theres probably a Knot's Berry Farm or petting zoo waiting for who evers brave enough to go.

Theres Helium-3 to be mined to use in fusion power generation, Helium-3 is rare on Earth. But currently fusion power is so early in it's development, theres no need to goto the moon to harvest it. If they're smart though, they'll want to get some kind of base setup there because eventually fusion power will become a usable reality.

Knowing our governments, they'll wait till theres a massive shortage here, hike up energy costs 500%, then tell us we should maybe start mining the moon and take 15 years to set up the facilities. 2030-2050 is the time line for fusion to be feasible, so to the moon by 2057 it is

The last I heard we had to go to the Moon to mine He3.

More uncalled for science reports is my take.

Oh, explosions on the Moon caused by meteor impacts.

The web page had a simulation, a rookie dis info agent must
have been on that science announcement.

Looking to public announcements for anything worth while
paints a bleak picture.

Sparky flashes on the Moon... oo UFOs on the Moon.
Don't think so, but they do harass satellites in low earth orbit.

Originally posted by TeslaandLyne
We don't think Moon any more, its Mars and the tiny lander.

I think its some kind of mind control and we are not set up
for another fake Lunar Landing...

We ARE thinking of the Moon, but as a stepping stone to getting humans to Mars.

NASA's Constellation Program currently under devolopment (the Orion Crew Vehicle, The Ares 1 rocket, and the Ares V heavy-lift rocket) is specifically designed to get humans to the Moon in 10 years.

But unlike Apollo, whose goal was to only get to the Moon and get back safely, the Constellation Program is more forward-thinking. The Ares V heavy-lift vehicle is being designed to get large parts to the Moon. The plan is to eventually build habitats and bases on the Moon which will be a testbed for teaching us how to live in and environment such as the Moon or Mars.

The information learned from the Constellation program and living on the Moon for long periods of time will be extremely helpful when we finally try to go to Mars.

That's why it's taking longer to go back to the Moon than it took during the Apollo years -- because this time we are not just going to say "we got there". This time we are going and will hopefully stay; and designing that infrastructure takes some time.

Thank you all for the reply's

We have not returned to the Moon because space missions, even unmanned ones, are expensive and Mars offers the answers to much more tantalizing questions. If you want to believe in the tinfoil hat rubbish about aliens and warnings then do so, but the truth is much more mundane. While the Moon does have Helium3, we don't have the large fusion economy that would need such resources. Not yet at least.