Moon Map Project Now Up in the Air

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO —  One year ago, a lunar research group headed by former Mayor Douglas Nash had its eyes on the sky after receiving $2.5 million from Congress to create the first comprehensive map of the moon.

Today, after being brought back to Earth by last summer’s federal budget cuts that sliced their appropriation to $1 million, members of the lunar exploration team are wondering if they can make it through the year.

“We’re in jeopardy of having to mothball this project in a few months,” said Nash, who works part time for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena and runs the San Juan Institute.

Nash is also the project scientist for the committee, known as the Lunar Exploration Science Working Group, which is backed by federal funds and staffed by scientists from NASA and JPL.

The group’s original goal was a lofty one: Using high-resolution cameras, the scientists intended to map the entire surface of the moon, including objects as small as 1 meter wide.

Nash had hoped to receive $15 million for this year from Congress. But emerging from a two-day seminar Friday that dealt with the new fiscal reality, Nash said the committee is scaling back its project.

Bevan French, a NASA researcher who is program scientist for the lunar project, finds the congressional cutback ironic at a time when “the moon is becoming an object of interest and study again.”