Will We Ever Live On The Moon?

 Kallamis writes in a great question of Moon habitability in an article he found on BBC future:

Finally someone that somewhat agrees with me. At least to the point that he is actually thinking about this. The article is actually too long to sum up here, but here is the basics of it. We could live on the moon, and use it for many applications. Mining, research into science, medicine, and even the history of the solar system. We could also have tourism, and mining H3 would provide a strong fuel source. Add in asteroid mining, and the best place to be is a massive space station, or a base on the moon. Landings and takeoffs would be easy from the moon. (Personally I still feel we could launch from the moon by magnetic rail launch.) I can think of nothing better than a large moon base, and work from there for the station. Mine the asteroids, run vacation tourism ships, and you watch how much better the economies or the world would be, (provided they and we can all give up our own ignorance and prejudices, distrusts, etc), not to mention the overall satisfaction of the entire planets peoples. I still feel that space is the answer to world peace and prosperity. 

   Not to mention that in theory, asteroids could be brought to the moon to be mined, or at least into an orbit that could be easily reached, maybe even by building a mining base in orbit connected by a space elevator. 

  Works great in my game, but there I don't have the world hating each other problem. Here's an idea. Everyone just stop. Just for 10 minutes, everyone stop, and do nothing. Amazing what it would be like with 10 minutes of true peace across the earth, everywhere. I'll be covering that concept soon, from Morgan Freeman's through the wormhole on the subject of is the universe alive.

Here is the link to the article on moon living.

NASA abandons moonbase plans

Yep, you heard that right....no only is it unlikely that the next human to step on the moon will be a NASA alumni but the first manned outpost on our closest neighbor won't be cutesy of NASA either.

According to IO9:

• NASA is reconsidering plans to build an outpost on the moon, due to budget.
• NASA's acting administrator Chris Scolese said at a recent meeting: an outpost [on the Moon] is really going to be dependent on the studies that we're going to be doing.

These "studies" it would appear are examining putting humans on Mars or asteroids, which sounds exciting, but I seem to recall an earlier comment on starting with the Moon and then on to Mars - NASA officials stated that before we could move on to Mars or Asteroids, a Moon base had to be accomplished first to test the viability of the technology. Hummm, if one doesn't happen, just how likely is it that the other will naturally follow on?

Future Moon Base Site Imaged

Shaun Saunders submits an article from UniverseToday detailing possible sites for the future US Moonbase. The article suggests that one of the best sites has to be the Moon's south pole. Mountainous areas near the rim of Shackelton Crater provide areas of almost continual sunlight, meaning solar power would be constantly available. In addition, the shadowed craters are in constant darkness and may hold water ice, a potential water supply that would be a vital resource for any lunar base. Also the suggestion is made that with many permanently dark craters available, this would be a great place to set up a lunar telescope. This is one of many 3D photos of the site. Click on the article title for more.

Also while purusing the UniverseToday site, I see that the main page had a video of the re-entry of the Jules Vern resupply craft built by the ESA. The film shows the automated transfer vehicle breaking up shortly after it enters the Earth's upper atmosphere.