[rhombus]

Put a base on the moon. It could have many uses, i.e., scientific, communications, security, military, and economic.

And to keep an eye on that Chinese base which WILL be there?

[timer]

True. The impetus for a moon base is the chinese space program. In the 1960s it was the russian competitors that got our dander up. This moon base is sort of retro in that respect. The REAL problem though is retro thinking that chemical rockets are the only way to get to space. EMSL is vastly more efficient as an STS to LEO. Beyond that are several propulsion concepts even more superior, it’s just that nasa doesn’t want anything to rock the boat vis-a-vis the federal funding flow.