Garver Weighs In

Lori Garver, deputy administrator of NASA, says that despite the new goal of sending a manned mission to a near-Earth asteroid by 2025, lunar exploration is not off the agency's radar. Indeed, NASA currently has a probe orbiting the Moon and plans for more in the years ahead.

Garver notes that the Moon is an obvious element in humanity's migration into space. It is, in fact, the world nearest to Earth, and a world rich in natural resources, including substantial reserves of water. Several nations are sending unmanned probes to the Moon, and several of the major nations have expressed at least some interest in participating in an international program to establish a manned lunar base. Private corporations like Bigelow Aerospace and Interorbital Systems are also planning manned bases on the Moon in the near future. If such private, for profit efforts successfully establish bases before a government-run program does, the Space Age will have taken what could be a decisive turn-- and with that turn, human civilization will begin a process of redefinition.

Garver is past executive director of the National Space Society, so she is aware of the role colonizing the Moon plays in the plans of many space advocates. Perhaps that perspective will yet have an influence on U. S. space policy.