Thanks annie l. Nice that there’s so much interest in the Moon, but I’ve begun to wonder why — and also why it has taken so many years for others to reach this point. :’)
My guess would be that the upsurge of interest has been sparked/spurred by all the activity in the private sector in recent years: the X-Prize, Blue Origin, SpaceX, SpaceDev, Virgin Galactic, and now the new Lunar X-Prize, etc, etc, etc.
Lately there seems to be an energy and excitement not seen since the days of the 'space-race' and the Apollo era ... and I'm lovin' it :-D