NASA, once again reinventing the wheel. Same as before, but bigger.
What the current project should be right now is the creation of a permanent Lunar habitat. Using known technologies to create a nuclear powered horizontal rock tunneling robot, probably built by The Robbins Company, it would land on the Moon, next to a “twilight crater” (which mostly remains in twilight as the Moon turns) wall.
In function, as the robot would grind away at the rock wall, rubble would fall onto a conveyor belt underneath the robot, to be carried far outside the tunnel on the robot’s conveyor belt “tail”. Periodically it would insert reinforcing rod into the ceiling, common practice in hard rock mining. Before backing out of the tunnel, it would spray liquid sealant for any micro-fissures.
Since it was on a one-way mission, its lander could be cannibalized for things like automatic sealing “smart” tunnel pressure doors, floor, walls and ceiling paneling with electrical connections.
Finally, before the astronauts had even arrived, it could fill the tunnel with warm air, so that the door could measure pressure and heat loss from the tunnel. The nuclear reactor used by the robot could then be used to provide power and heat for the tunnel.
After doing this on the Moon, we could then use the experience to do the same thing on Mars.
They are reinventing nothing. They are using a wheeled rover design, however. My 2012 Nissan uses 4 wheels, just like the Model T.
That said, I get what you are saying. I'm afraid such things will only be a pipe dream for the foreseeable future. We lack vision in the White House, and we lack the money and the will to do it. This is our last great planetary mission. It is sad.
Luna has many miles of huge lava caves. I have seen the pics of them where you can see where the roofs collapsed in places over the eons.
Volatiles from comet impacts and the solar wind have probably frozen out inside the lava caves just like at the Lunar South Poles.
They are big enough for a good sized base with oodles of radiation shielding and a large heat sink.
You could go with inflatable habitats and artificial lighting for growing food.
Bet when the Chicoms land, they will plant their flag and claim the entire planet!
Are you for real? And just how much money do you think we have. It is bad enough that we wasted tons of money over the years as it is. Now you want to spend SERIOUS money. Forget it.
First of all, when the new millennium arrived in 2001, there were too many blog posts lamenting the state of "base-lessness" on the moon that was supposedly mankind's "future" legacy as 'promised' to us by such lowbrow TV shows as 'Space 1999' and of course most emphatically that of 2001: A Space Odyssey the scenario of which seemed all-too-likely to occur.
Second of all, the mere pittance in which all that you have expressed about the likelihood of a permanent habitat on the moon available at relative bargain basement prices in the off-the-shelf technology of the day just adds to the misery. Especially when you think of what we would have accomplished with a mere $100 Billion in the shadow of our $14 Trillion debt, you begin to see why I'm getting so upset.
Lastly, reading ad nauseum ad infinitum about how the next human beings to walk on the moon will decidedly not be of Caucasian extraction, the discoveries of vast amounts of water on the moon to exploit for fuel, other aspects of human habitation on the moon, you begin to realize why I am so forlorn. BTW: They've already picked out the perfect spot several years ago in which to locate the moon colony that-was-supposed-to-be at the base of am mountain range near the southern area of the moon, that remains in perpetual sunlight, for optimum proficiency.