Permanent Moon Base - Why or Why Not?

I'd think it would be important and worth doing.

- Underground for the most part, partly for structural simplicity and
also for protection.

- Sunlight 'up there' is strong and free. Collecting it wouldn't be, at
least not at 1st.

- Potentially harmful experiments (say new types of energy production)
or experiments needing isolation away from Terrestrial sources could be
staged on the back side.

- Lunar based Astronomical Telescopes & other types of detection
equipment. Wouldn't necessarily need to be on the Dark Side, maybe dug
in deep down a long shaft. Freed from lots of Earth based light
pollution as well as atmospheric distortion we might well peer father
and farther back and out into time. Also, things would be a lot easier
to repair/upgrade/maintain.

- New Tech could create trade in the future, well of course things would
be very lop sided for a long time.


And while I am rooting for most all things American I would like to get
the Moon declared (not just on paper) a Weapon & Political Free Zone.
(Yeah, right.) Still, it's at the beginning of things when they can get
off on the right foot.


TBerk