Check your subscription status, update your details and more. A robot called GIMLI will explore a lunar cave for a future moon base The race to build a moon base is ramping up. Columnist Robin George Andrews explores how NASA is preparing by sending a cave-hunting robot ahead of humans Artist’s illustration of NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter peering down into a lava tube Elaboration of a photo of A.
LRO 3D model by NASA (Brian Kumanchik, Christian Lopez. NASA/JPL-Caltech), Earthrise photo captured on Taken on 24 December 1968, by Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders In video-game terms, the moon is the first level in an unfathomably giant, never-ending realm. It is the place where we, the players, learn the controls and try very hard not to die, in preparation for safely exploring the rest of the solar system.
At a convenient 385,000 kilometres from Earth – a stone’s throw in cosmic terms – our planet’s companion is a great testing ground. And the race is on to claim a piece of it for a base. Receive a weekly dose of discovery in your inbox.
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