DO YOU WANT TO GO TO THE MOON OR JUST LOOK AT THE STARS? - LRK -

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Lunar base options divide experts: "Monday, 5 April, 2004, 13:19 GMT 14:19 UK
Lunar base options divide experts
By Dr David Whitehouse
BBC News Online science editor

Scientists are divided about the use of the Moon as a base to develop ways to travel to Mars, according to reports given to the US government.
Some have said the possibility of water-ice existing at the lunar poles would allow a moonbase to use the ice as rocket fuel for a Mars mission.
Others contend that it would be too difficult to extract.
And there is disagreement about whether the moon is a good alternative to space as a base for advanced telescopes.
In January, President Bush redirected the US space effort sending astronauts back to the Moon and then onto Mars. "


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