Sunny spot picked out for future lunar base

Talk about "Commanding Heights":
<>NewScientist.com news service
Maggie McKee

Parts of the Moon's north pole may be constantly bathed in sunlight, making it the ideal place to build a future human colony, say scientists. US President George W Bush announced a plan in 2004 to build a permanent lunar base from which people can explore the moon, and then go on to Mars. But the Moon's environment is harsh. Without an appreciable atmosphere to distribute heat, most lunar regions swing from -180°C to 100°C as the Moon rotates in and out of sunlight every 29.5 days.

But the Moon's poles are thought to be less extreme. Unlike Earth, the Moon spins nearly vertically with respect to the plane of its orbit around the Sun and so the poles never experience a sunset - the Sun just skims around the horizon as the Moon rotates. This constant light should provide stable temperatures of about -50°C and a steady source of energy - crucial requirements for any future lunar base.