Futuropolis: How NASA Plans to Create a Permanent Presence on the Moon

Analog Fact Article by Michael Carroll

Best fact article of 2009. A look at NASA's plans to build a long-term base on the moon that would serve as a staging area for a lot of other expeditions. Goes in depth about new rovers, what sort of habitats you would have to use, and how all of this compares to the McMurdo base in Antarctica. The last couple pages are devoted to the reasons why we need to set up a moon base if we really want to succeed in Mars exploration.

This article dealt with the current state of affairs at NASA and provided a lot of information that hasn't been out there much before. The author is writing an entire book on the subject, and based on the quality of writing and informational content of this article, I will seriously consider buying it. The article covered several major areas of current research/development and even touched on the long term expansion of such a base. But with all the things it dealt with, all in sufficient depth by the way, Carroll managed to do something I've been noticing is all too rare in these fact articles: HE STAYED FOCUSED ON HIS TOPIC without wandering off into less interesting, irrelevant tangents.