Although lunar surfaces could offer advantages for astronomical observatories the high cost of installation will probably shelve the concept. With the current presidents vision of human manned space exploration as the primary goal and the need to phase out unrelated missions for funding I don't see much of a chance for lunar based telescope projects.

As far a the far side concept of lunar based telescopes wouldn't you need some sort of communication relay system such as a constellation of satellites or ground based antennas to relay signals to earth? If so this would raise the cost considerably.

Thanks for the link Nick.

SteveS