nacnud,<br /><br />It would be foolhardy to try to establish the first lunar base at either of the lunar poles. We would be multiplying the difficulty of creating our first foothold by many times, as well as delaying the construction of the first permanent base, possibly by years. We are looking at developing a world, which will entail surveying missions on the surface, landings in many different areas to evaluate possible resources, and learning huge amounts. No one site will meet all the needs of future development, such as building a lunar magnetic launcher, mining metals, and doing scientific research.<br /><br />Certainly, the presence of water on the Moon would have a tremendous impact on lunar development, but it is not the deciding factor. What will be a deciding factor is public awareness of manned space exploration efforts, which should increase dramatically when there are people living and working on the Moon. In my opinion, the single greatest benefit of developing the Moon will be forcing people to realize that there is somewhere else in the universe besides Earth, and that living there is not science fiction. If we cannot get people to understand that space is real, and soon, this whole discussion will be academic.<br /><br />We who are deeply interested in space exploration usually do not realize how abstract and inconsequential it is to most people. Try asking the bus driver, the cook at school, the meter reader, the clerk at the covienance store what they think about the International Space Station. Most folks won't even know what you are talking about. But after a few years of there being people living and working on the Moon, that will change, because the Moon is a 'place', not some dimensionless point of light in the sky.<br /><br />I would be greatly surprised if the site of the first lunar base is still in use 50 years down the road, because we are sure to find better ones. As we grow more knowledgable and skillful, ease of landing will fade <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> The secret to peace of mind is a short attention span. </div>