There is a proposed study, but I can't say how much of the thinking behind that was because "the moon is cheap so lets think up a project involving that" and how much was because there's a serious gap in our knowledge that needs investigating.

Anyhow, from the BBC article:

    > The mission will also have a scientific component. The aim is to drill and
    > analyse a sample from underneath the lunar surface, something which
    > has never been done before.

On the radio this morning, one of leading guys (I forget who) was also talking about looking for data regarding the origins of life (since the moon is believed to have been part of Earth originally). But, again, I don't know how credible that argument.

Personally I think the reasoning behind this project feels a little reverse engineered, however I'm going to support it regardless since it should hopefully generate a few jobs in an industry that really needs more focus in the UK (some days it feels like everyone here wants to be celebrities without really thinking about any skills they might have that would be worth celebrating)