British space exploration lives on! MoonLITE probe heading Moon-wards in 2012
Only about 35 years after the last American stood on the Moon, Britain is going back – with a decidedly non-thrilling unmanned probe.
Designed by mainly British scientists – with complicated navigational bits provided by NASA – the £100m MoonLITE probe will hopefully be on its way by 2012.
Technology’s come on quite a bit since the Apollo lot went up there to play golf and drive buggies around, so it’s hoped that the new generation of lunar probes will tell us more – by firing three or four darts into the Moon’s surface from orbit.
The unmanned nature means more risks can be taken, with MoonLITE hopefully travelling to/over bits of the Moon the American’s didn’t leave a load of Coke cans and burger wrappers over, like the dark side and the polar regions.
(Via Reuters)
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