Science says: The lunar surface is much more awesome than you think it is.
Here are ten heavenly bodies, ranked according to their general awesomeness:
While this list might not be 100 percent scientifically accurate ... still, poor Moon. It lacks the intrigue of the sun, the mystery of Mars, even the lonely metaphor of the wandering satellite. While the moon once represented humanity's wildest technological aspirations, it's now taken a "been there, done that" quality. The last time a human set foot on the lunar surface was December. Of 1972.
A team of scientists thinks the moon deserves another shot. In a paper soon to be published in the journal Planetary and Space Science, Ian Crawford, of Birkbeck College in London, and his colleagues lay out a detailed case for amped-up lunar exploration.
First, they argue, the moon is actually a really good place to learn about the earth. "As the Earth's closest celestial neighbor the Moon retains a unique record of the inner Solar System environment under which life evolved on our planet," they write. The moon could house as many as 200 kilograms of ancient earth matter per lunar kilometer -- an odd but rich source of data about our planet. The moon's surface also likely contains a record of solar wind flux, solar luminosity, and galactic cosmic rays as they interacted throughout the history of the solar system -- which could offer clues not only into the environment of the solar system itself, but also into the past habitability of earth.