The are also researching what the affects of creepy lighting schemes that only light up your face will be on fellow astronauts.

HAHAHAHA! That made my day, Munkcy.

The funny thing about boingboing is that with this headline it was either going to be a piece on a legit scientist ACTUALLY working on moon-homes or some crackpot former hippie in the Oregon wilderness that's been building artsy "moon-homes" for years in his back yard.

@LESINGE (#3), And therein lies the magic of the mutant mind. We can appreciate both. : )

I'm amused by this bit in the article:

"But setting up an outpost on the moon is an essential step toward eventually settling other planets, argues John Logsdon, director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University, who will join the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum this fall. "It's not primarily about science," Logsdon says. "It's to test the belief that humans are destined to live in other places except earth."

Hmm...so we're going to spend how many billions to determine again what the first lunar astronauts observed regarding our Spaceship Earth (now more fragile and out $x billions in direct investment on the problems)?

Another waste of money from NASA. What possible benefit will there ever be from living on the moon?

If only this amount of money could be spent on Dean Kamen-style technologies which will actually help people -- instead of designing dome houses for the 0.00001% richest people on the planet who will ever live on the moon.

Another waste of money from NASA. What possible benefit will there ever be from living on the moon?

apart from the sheer freaking awesomeness of it?

still, if i were one of the 0.00001% richest people in the world i wouldn't want to live on the moon anyway; i'd be far too busy throwing coke & hooker parties on my yacht, wherever i felt like being on that particular day.

oh and yeah, while i did say the moon would be awesome, without water i can't take my yacht there.

"Another waste of money from NASA. What possible benefit will there ever be from living on the moon?"

Quite a bit after any of our lifetimes, but I'd say if the human race wants to continue living eventually we're going to have to go somewhere. What better place to start working out how to do this then the closest uninhabitable rock we can find?

Imagine you were in San Francisco trying to build a boat to get you to China where you were going to build a home. Good choice since China has everything you need for the most part. So you begin by building a ship and a habitat suited for living on the Farallon Islands just a few miles off the Golden Gate...good idea? No...anything designed to make living on the Farallons will be all but useless on the trip to and subsequent efforts at the ultimate destination.
If we brush away the patina of wishfull-thinking" about "going to the moon" in preparation for going to Mars, we see that it is largely a military strategy to gain the high ground and has very little to do with "learning how to 'live in space'".
I'm not necessarily opposed to the idea of a military presence on the moon. I know we live in a dangerous world and a responsible military can be part of the stability needed for our civilization to advance, but the expansion to Mars is something we should be doing seperately so the goals and challenges are not mired in the obfuscating rhetoric that inevitably accompanies big military programs.

How about going to an asteroid instead of the moon?

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/air_space/4245928.html
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/space/11/07/popsci.asteroid/index.html

Another waste of money from NASA. What possible benefit will there ever be from living on the moon?

Hmm, yes, I see your point. Obviously, learning how to create, maintain, and repair every aspect of an artificial environment capable of supporting human life, and broadening our knowledge of applied environmental science as a direct result, will never have any conceivable application on Earth. Nope. Not possible.

Is it "Lunar designer of homes" or "Designer of lunar homes" ? :)

I'm sure there are worthwhile things that would come from living on the moon and the designing and problem solving inherent on the process.

Still, I wish we'd put half the money into deep-ocean exploration that we have put into space. And if you think the trick to human survival is getting to another planet, you have stars in your eyes. Even ravaged, the Earth will be an easier place to live than any other planet. Best we put our efforts into minimize, halting, then reversing the damage we've done to this place.

I've no great desire to go to space. I'd rather scuba dive in our oceans or hike in our deserts, with their lovely blue skies and breathable atmosphere.

But why would rich people go to the moon? To play golf, of course...

Thank You all for a funny and thoughtful commentary on the subject.

Doug, I agree with you that the whole idea may be a coverup story for militaristic advantage - and hey, why not. We may even get the added benefit of better science (i can see farther than u maybe)that triggers better military preparation against other life forms if some Independence day crap ever kicked off. :-)

And Pipenta, Deep Sea exploration should indeed be a higher priority than it has ever been. We are so ignorant of life on our own planet.

And Minimisan, we can race our yachts as a diversion from our other fun in the sun. I;m with you on that. There's no other way to spend your time if you are one of the lucky 0.000001 percent! LOL

Anonymous for now cuz I dont feel like setting up another! new account on my work computer.

Reason to go to the moon? Helium-3 enough of a reason for you? How about Titanium? Lol, there are enough minerals up on the moon to satisfy our energy and manufacturing needs for thousands of years. Do we have the technology to utilize it? No, and we won't unless we develop it because it won't materialize out of thin air in a vacuum of effort.