[Science] Moving to the Moon

In somewhat geekier circles, the news has started to circulate about NASA's plans to not only return to the moon but to establish a permanent settlement there by the year 2024.

On it's website, NASA explains the three primary reasons for man returning to the moon.

1.) Human Civilization
2.) Scientific Knowledge
3.) Exploration Preparation
4.) Global Partnerships
5.) Economic Expansion
6.) Public Engagement

Their reasoning seems sound enough and perhaps this is the kind of high profile project that the organization needs to revive public interest in space exploration and thus provide additional funding for future projects. It's been a while since NASA has done anything really big, especially in light of recent tragedies. Our last manned mission to the moon was the Apollo 17 mission in December of 1972.

Personally, I'm pretty excited about this. This news item, coupled with Stephen Hawking's recent statements about the importance of humanity colonizing other worlds should definitely generate a lot of support and interest in the agency in the coming years. Let's just hope they succeed, since this could be the start of some pretty amazing things to come.