Synopsis
The Lunar Exploration Roadmap is a plan developed by engineers, planetary scientists, and policymakers to use the Moon and its resources to enable sustainable exploration of other destinations within the Solar System. The roadmap aims to preserve American leadership in space, engage and inspire the public, open the space frontier to commercial enterprise, and enhance international partnerships.
The roadmap has three main themes: Feed Forward, Sustainability, and Science. Feed Forward focuses on using the Moon as a deep space test bed to reduce risk by testing technologies, systems, and operations for future missions to Mars and other destinations. Sustainability aims to use the Moon to learn how to live and work productively off-planet, enabling human settlement. Science focuses on using the Moon for scientific research that addresses fundamental questions about the Moon, the Solar System, and the Universe.
