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Scope of the Workshop

Currently the European Space Flight is adapting to new objectives and challenges. In this phase of re-orientation, fundamental decisions need to be taken very soon regarding the long term orientation and the positioning of European Space Flight. Concerning the European Space Agency's Exploration activities this year's ministerial conference is regarded as major milestone for the decision on a new vision and long term plan. Among the main options are missions to the Moon and to Mars.

This may bring about opportunities to realize an old scientific dream, that of establishing observatories on the moon. Similarly, the European space industry has a significant interest in contributing its technology for such a mission and to work towards a sustainable presence on the nearest solar system body. In this workshop we would like to bring together representatives from science and industry to discuss the various options, time scales, and scientific justifications for scientific experiments on the Lunar surface.

One possible route is to build up a common infrastructure for deployment, data processing, and communication. This infrastructure may be concentrated to a certain area, such as one of the poles, or even be distributed over the moon as in the Wide Areas Sensor Network concept of LOFAR. Possible experiments could range from low-frequency radio observatories, to submm-wave, optical, or X-ray telescopes. Apart from astronomical sensors one can also envisage a network of seismic sensor or other detectors spread over a part of the lunar surface.

The basic goal will be to come up with an inventory of ideas and discuss their possible merits and feasibility. The results of the workshop will become part of a vision that will be proposed to ESA and also helps science and industry to plane the next generation of exploration missions.

Format

The Workshop consisted of a series of solicited and contributed talks and also left ample space for discussions.

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To ensure efficient discussions, the number of participants was restricted to 30.

Scientific Organizing Committee

Hartmut Müller/EADS (Co-chair)
Heino Falcke/ASTRON (Co-chair)

George Miley (Univ. Leiden)
Dietrich Lemke (Max-Planck Institut für Astronomie, Heidelberg)
Leonid Gurvits (Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe, JIVE)
Graham Woan (University of Glasgow)

EADS/EADS SPACE Transportation is the European space transportation and orbital systems specialist. It designs, develops and produces Ariane launchers, the Columbus laboratory and the ATV cargo vessel for the International Space Station, atmospheric re-entry vehicles, propulsion systems and space equipment.

ASTRON is short for the Stichting ASTRonomisch Onderzoek in Nederland (Netherlands Foundation for Research in Astronomy) it operates under the umbrella of the Dutch national research council, NWO (* Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek). It currently builds the LOFAR radio telescope and wide area sensor network.

RadioNet is an Integrated Infrastructure Initiative (I3), funded under the European Committee Sixth Framework Programme (FP6), that has pulled together all of Europe's leading astronomy facilities to produce a focused, coherent and integrated project that will significantly enhance the quality and quantity of science performed by European astronomers.