However, Worden said, what is lacking is even the basic knowledge about lunar topography and resources to plan for a sustained human presence on the Moon. He contends that NASA should undertake lunar robotic missions to characterize polar landing sites and to quantify the presence of volatile elements critical to life such as hydrogen and carbon. The Moon’s poles have more consistent temperature, solar power and variety of chemical resources than the equatorial zones visited by U.S. Apollo crews and the Soviet Union’s robotic Luna missions.

"The Moon may also prove to be an ideal location for advanced scientific laboratories in biology and astronomy…but we must fully understand the pluses and minuses of the Moon for such laboratories and not be driven to costly compromises between science and human exploration," Worden explained.

Free space locales

The case for lunar-based astronomy is a case nowhere near as strong as it used to be. That’s the appraisal of Lester at the University of Texas at Austin. He is a strong backer of free-space locales such as Earth orbit or Lagrange points over what could be achieved on the Moon.

Lester suggested that an interesting strategic metamorphosis has occurred. "It isn't that we were wrong before, but just that we’ve gotten much more talented in our free space capabilities."

"With respect to free space, the Moon provides dirt and gravity, and neither are of great value to astronomy, at least of the ultraviolet, optical, infrared variety", Lester said.

There’s the claim that telescopes could take advantage of the "stable" surface of the Moon. "But we’ve known for many, many years," Lester responded, "that free space is a marvelously stable place, and you don’t need pylons or concrete!"

Pointing and stabilization systems for spacecraft are straightforward, off-the-shelf items. The low temperature that would be found in lunar polar craters is attractive, Lester added, but carrying out construction in such cold places is likely to be very hard. "We’ll have such low and controllable temperatures in free space in just few years anyway with the James Webb Space Telescope, he said.

"There is an assumption that you need to put telescopes where people can get to
them, in order to derive maximum value. This is probably true, but the assumption that the lunar surface is where such agents will soon congregate is probably naive. Free-space is a fine place for humans, and it has worked well for many years now," Lester said.

"Unless…and this is a big caveat...we find a lot of resources on the Moon that are useful for space travel, long-term human presence on the Moon offers us little as we look toward Mars, and that understanding is reflected in NASA’s planning. For most telescopes, free space is the right place. Let’s go back to the Moon, but let’s go there for good reasons."

The rest is here: Space.com