George Sowers, professor of practice in the space resources program at Colorado School of Mines, was recently interviewed by Nature about what it would take to build a sustainable base on the Moon. From the article: Researchers relish the idea of a base for conducting experiments on the Moon and as a way to trial technologies for heading to Mars. Private firms, however, are increasingly tempted by the possibility of mining oxygen and hydrogen — which power rockets — from lunar ice. If that does pan out, then the Moon could become a refuelling station, radically reducing the expense of space ....