  The lunar geological record contains a rich archive of the history of the
inner Solar System, including information relevant to understanding the origin
and evolution of the Earth-Moon system, the geological evolution of rocky
planets, and our local cosmic environment. This paper provides a brief review
of lunar exploration to-date, and describes how future exploration initiatives
will further advance our understanding of the origin and evolution of the Moon,
the Earth-Moon system, and of the Solar System more generally. It is concluded
that further advances will require the placing of new scientific instruments
on, and the return of additional samples from, the lunar surface. Some of these
scientific objectives can be achieved robotically, for example by in situ
geochemical and geophysical measurements and through carefully targeted sample
return missions. However, in the longer term, we argue that lunar science would
greatly benefit from renewed human operations on the surface of the Moon, such
as would be facilitated by implementing the recently proposed Global
Exploration Roadmap.
