It’s been talked about for years and while lots of thought has gone into it the reality of a lunar base has still been a far-reaching goal.

Hopefully that’s going to change as Katsuhiko Shirai, president of Waseda University and chairman of a government panel has put forward a proposal for the base that would be operated entirely by robots.

This wouldn’t come cheap and at an estimated cost of 400 billion yen (£2.8 billion) you can expect yet more long arduous debate.

The panel has agreed to sit down in June 2010 and work out the feasibility of the program which would see a base located on the south pole of the moon where rock samples would be collected and be sent back to earth by 2025.

The panel will report their findings to the space policy team who is headed by Prime Minister Hatoyama.

Via [The Yomiuri Shimbun]

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