Increasingly, novel and more humanistic uses of the Moon are coming to the forefront, said Madhu Thangavelu, a professor of architecture at the University of Southern California. "It's not just the hard core science and the technology. I'm hearing more about humanity and the balance of life," he said.

There needs to be constant interaction with the outside, non-space activist community, Thangavelu said. "We want to avoid a cult phenomenon, which tends to drag a lot of wonderful ideas down sometimes," he said.

A recent course, taught by Thangavelu in extraterrestrial and extreme environment habitat design, proves the point for outreach.

Facilities on the Moon for the elderly and physically challenged were created by his students. So too was a design for the first lunar mosque.

A dome for worship and an adjoining tower -- a Maa'thanah -- were blueprinted by student, Khaled Al Jammaz. It featured classical elements of Islamic design. The dome sits on the lunar surface and uses a gimbaled floor plate to resolve the issue of allowing worshippers to face the exact direction of Mecca, for prayer.

"This is a small, reasonable, but high-impact idea," Strong said. The idea centers on landing a pulsed laser at the Moon's north pole. The beacon would flash green beams of light toward Earth every few seconds. The pulses are below the threshold of detection with the unaided eye. Only people observing through binoculars or a telescope can spot the green light flicking on and off.

Strong's scheme also has the robotic device relaying local temperature data and other science measurements, as well as images of the Earth from the Moon.

"A lighthouse shows you the way. Green also means life. It can serve as a reference point indicating where a human base is likely to be sited. Around the world, people could see the flashes. They would know that Earth technology is there. Also, green means go," Strong told SPACE.com.

Despite a cadre of lunar interested scientists, NASA appears to have turned its back on the Moon, favoring the reddish glow of Mars.

"Evidently, the Moon is still a four-letter-word at NASA. It's just not on the space agency's radar screen," said Steve Gillett, a research assistant professor of geology at the University of Nevada in Reno. One of the more significant developments, however, is the fact that lunar robotic spacecraft are now being readied in Japan and Europe, he said.

"It's entirely possible that the native language of the first human settlers will not be English," Gillett said.

No major program of lunar investigation will arise from NASA's space science office in the foreseeable future, said Wendell Mendell, a planetary scientist at the Johnson Space Center.

"One might safely conclude that no investment plans should be made that depend on NASA missions to the Moon. On the other hand, is the converse also true? Can we safely make plans that assume NASA will not mount missions to the Moon? I am not so sure," Mendell said.

Efforts are underway in Japan, Europe, and apparently in India and China to initiate a new round of robotic exploration, Mendell noted.

Mendell predicted that the year 2005 is a look-and-see arrival point. By then the fate of the International Space Station will be known. Also, the direction of NASA should be evident by that time. Furthermore, whether space tourism has blossomed would become clear by then, he said.

Among a list of status checks for 2005 is finding out if other nations have moved out to explore the Moon, Mendell said. "We will be able to predict with confidence whether human beings will walk on the Moon in 2010 and predict their nationality."