NASA and the British National Space Centre—which coordinates UK civil space policy—signed an agreement in April to cooperate on NASA’s Moon–Mars program.
“Space exploration is an endeavor in which the US and UK have a long history of bilateral cooperation to celebrate and build upon,” says NASA administrator Michael D. Griffin. The UK has already completed a feasibility study of two robotic mission options to the surface of the Moon: MoonRaker, a small propulsive lander to provide in situ geological dating, and MoonLITE, a dual-purpose satellite equipped with missile-shaped penetrators carrying seismometers to investigate the lunar interior and powerful telecommunications equipment to test at the Moon.
The agreement is part of an effort by 14 space agencies to create a global exploration strategy for visits to the Moon and Mars. More multilateral agreements with other space agencies are expected this summer.
