WHO: Dr. Ravi Sheth, associate professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, School of Arts and Sciences, University of Pennsylvania

WHAT: The Penn Science Cafe lecture series, free and open to the public, takes science out of the laboratory and treats it to a night on the town.                  The Cafe is your chance to ask a leading expert your questions about science.

WHERE: Bubble House, 3404 Sansom Streeet, Philadelphia

WHEN: Tuesday, Oct. 23, 6 p.m.

            Doors open at 5:30 p.m.

            Menu items available for purchase.

Its been 35 years since a human being last set foot on the moon.  Now, the U.S. is considering a self-sustaining moon colony to be used as a launch pad for further exploration of the solar system, including the first manned mission to Mars.  This month at the Caf, Ravi Sheth, astrophysicist and theoretical cosmologist, will discuss the wisdom, and folly, of NASAs plan to return to the moon by 2020.

NASA is already busy planning and developing a new generation of suits, lunar vehicles and robots.  Dr. Sheth will reveal some of the science that is enabled by returning to the moon, as well as why not everyone is over the moon about returning to a place with no atmosphere, lots of dust and a definite dark side.

###