. 24/7 Space News .
US to launch new moon mission in 2010
  • Parisians brace for flooding risks as Seine creeps higher
  • Volcanos, earthquakes: Is the 'Ring of Fire' alight?
  • Finland's president Niinisto on course for second term
  • Record rain across soggy France keeps Seine rising
  • Record rain across sodden France keeps Seine rising
  • State of emergency as floods worry Paraguay capital
  • Panic and blame as Cape Town braces for water shut-off
  • Fresh tremors halt search ops after Japan volcano eruption
  • Cape Town now faces dry taps by April 12
  • Powerful quake hits off Alaska, but tsunami threat lifted
  • UDAIPUR, India (AFP) Nov 25, 2004
    The United States will launch a mission in 2010 to land two stationary robots on the moon to collect rock samples before returning to earth, a US scientist said here Thursday.

    Carle Pieters of Brown University's Department of Geological Sciences, who is involved in the US space programme, said the aim of the Moonrise Mission was to land at the moon's largest and oldest crater -- the South Pole Aitken Basin.

    "The purpose is to study how long ago the basin was formed and return materials derived from the deep interior to earth for analysis," Pieters said.

    "It will also help us to understand the unique process of how basins are formed."

    Pieters is also the chairwoman of the International Lunar Exploration Working Group, an organisation formed to promote cooperation between nations.

    She said scientists in the United States were still identifying which landing spots in the basin would be good for the twin robots to gather samples.

    "Each robot will collect one kilogramme of rocks and fragments which will give us an insight of the basin's geological history," she told delegates at the International Conference on Exploration and Utilisation of the Moon in northern Indian city of Udaipur.

    More than 200 delegates from 16 countries are participating in the five-day conference ending Friday.




    All rights reserved. copyright 2018 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.