Lunar Skies May Soon Become Crowded

Sheesh... it seems EVERYONE wants to get to the moon nowadays.

Hot on the heels of China's apparently successful effort to send its Chang'e probe into lunar orbit, with India waiting in the wings with its own lunar ambitions... this week Germany announced it, too, wants to send an unmanned spacecraft there.

A report on the subject by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) will soon be presented to the government, Deputy Economy Minister Peter Hintze told Reuters. The goal is to send a probe to the moon early in the next decade.

"The essence of this report is that it is possible and it makes sense," said Hintze, who is also the government's aerospace coordinator. "The political decision has not been made yet."

The LEO -- Lunar Exploration Orbiter -- could be launched as soon as 2012 if decisions are made soon on the project, Hintze added. Projected cost would be around 350 million euros, or nearly $514 million US, to cover development, manufacturing and launch costs.

If carried out, Germany's effort would be separate from its partnership in the European Space Agency, according to DLR chief Johann-Dietrich Woerner. Such a mission wouldn't be intended to compete with ESA, Woerner hastened to add, but rather complement them.

"A lunar mission would be a building block and would not be against Europe or against cooperation," he said.

Representatives from DLR have already discussed the project with ESA, NASA, and the Russian space agency. So far, Germany has no intention to launch a manned lunar mission, or land anything on the surface... but Woerder did note the LEO would be designed to orbit just 30 miles above the moon, much lower than other efforts.

FMI: www.dlr.de/en/desktopdefault.aspx