Russia, Europe team up to colonize the moon

The European and Russian space agencies are teaming up to explore a portion of the moon for possible human settlement, Britain's BBC News reported Saturday.

The mission to send a lander to the south pole of the moon is just one of a series in preparation for sending humans to Earth's only natural satellite and to explore the possibility of building a permanent settlement on the surface.

The lander will have equipment to evaluate whether there is water and raw materials to produce fuel and oxygen.

According to the BBC, The mission, dubbed Luna 27, is scheduled to launch in five years time.

The series of missions is led by Russia's Roscosmos federal space agency and picks up from where the Soviet Union's exploration program left off in the mid 1970's.

One of the Lead scientists on the mission, Professor Igor Mitrofanov, of the Space Research Institute in Moscow told the BBC, "We have to go to the Moon. The 21st Century will be the century when it will be the permanent outpost of human civilization, and our country has to participate in this process."

During the early years of the space race in the 1960's and 1970's, Russia and the US competed fiercely to put the first man into orbit and the first man on the moon. Now, Mitrofanov says, "we have to work together with our international colleagues."

The head of the lunar exploration group of at Esa's European Space Research and Technology Centre (Estec) in Amsterdam, Bérengère Houdou, echoed Mitrofanov's comments.

"We have an ambition to have European astronauts on the Moon. There are currently discussions at international level going on for broad cooperation on how to go back to the Moon," he said.

Just one week after becoming the new head of the European Space Agency in July, Johann-Dietrich told the BBC of his vision to build a base on the moon with international partners.

The first missions in the series, including Luna 27, will be conducted by unmanned spacecraft and landers. Luna 27 will be exploring the moon's south polar region which has many areas that are in constant darkness, and are some of the coldest places in the Solar System. Scientists hope to find ice and other chemicals in these cold regions.

The Esa's lead scientist on the project, Dr James Carpenter, explained that one of the main goals of the mission is to evaluate the potential use of water found and to explore if it holds clues to the origins of life in the solar system.

"The south pole of the Moon is unlike anywhere we have been before," he said.

"The environment is completely different, and due to the extreme cold there you could find large amounts of water-ice and other chemistry which is on the surface, and which we could access and use as rocket fuel or in life-support systems to support future human missions we think will go to these locations."