9 Reasons We Should Go Back To The Moon

8. Were Not Done Discovering It Yet

We've spent a grand total of about 80 hours with actually human boot on the lunar ground. The above image of the Apollo 17 landing site shows the teeny area that we managed to cover during the 22 hours spent on the surface.

Unmanned probes and orbiting satellites have managed to gather more data on our nearest neighbour since we last left and, far from telling us all we need to know from afar, it has revealed tantalising evidence of a much more complex lunar environment - there is even some to suggest that it could harbour hidden water reserves.

Due to the fact that the moon is not geologically active, it could also offer us a unique insight into the history of the earth and the wider solar system. The earth's volcanoes, oceans and atmosphere all steadily erode away the evidence of impacts and changes throughout its life, but the moon remains a perfectly preserved record.

There's a lot more to that grey little space rock that meets the eye, and we've barely scratched the surface.