Lowman feels that a new lunar program need not be another Apollo program.

"We do not need to start all over again where we were in 1961. We know much more about the Moon and we still have most of the infrastructure developed for Apollo. In addition, there have been enormous advances in space technology and scientific instrumentation since the end of the Apollo program," Lowman explained.

"This robotic complex could serve as the nucleus for a manned settlement in the next decade," Lowman said.

There is no argument that important science can be had at the Moon.

"The fledgling lunar robotic program, as a precursor to human expeditions to the Moon after 2015, is not a science-driven activity, but rather focused on a combination of applied science/engineering and technology demonstration activities," said Jim Garvin NASA Lead Scientist for Mars Exploration and the Moon at the space agency’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.

NASA’s intent is to use lunar territory as a way to earn its Mars wings. Testing hardware and procedures to assure human adventurers can make round-trips to the red planet safe and sound is a priority outlined in the Bush space plan.

Still to be sorted out in NASA’s lunar initiative is the potential role of commercial firms. While the big aerospace firms like Boeing and Lockheed Martin are already moving into high-gear to provide space exploration hardware, so too are smaller firms.

"The first step in the initiative is a lunar orbiter to gather data about the surface, and Federal law clearly states that data purchase from the private sector is the method that NASA is required to use, absent compelling reasons to do otherwise," said David Gump, President of LunaCorp, based in Reston, Virginia.

Gump said that carrying out exploration in an affordable, sustainable way translates into taking an American approach that relies on competition and free enterprise.

"This means data purchase, and other approaches that put new exploration infrastructure into commercial hands like contests and long-term leases. I've heard rumors that some academic labs or other contractors have been told to begin designing yet another Federal space probe, but there's still hope that NASA will obey the law," Gump advised.

LunaCorp is eager to offer SuperSat, a Moon probe that can be assembled on the International Space Station. After fabrication on orbit, it would then be sent into orbit around the Moon. SuperSat could provide broadband communications from the Moon, enhanced with sponsorship and television funding.

SuperSat is intended to deliver the first high-resolution digital video of a voyage from the Earth to the Moon, and create the first digital map of the lunar surface -- looking for non-dangerous landing spots near the Moon's poles for upcoming rover missions.

SpaceDev of Poway, California has completed the first phase of a privately funded study to design a low cost robotic return to the Moon. The study was performed for Lunar Enterprise of California (LEC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Space Age Publishing Company).

The study follows an earlier SpaceDev Lunar orbiter mission and spacecraft design project funded by Boeing. The current study analyzes mission and spacecraft options for a Lunar Dish Observatory to be placed near the south pole of the Moon.

The SpaceDev study found that the south pole of the Moon is an ideal location for a variety of activities including a dish-type observatory. Certain areas near the pole experience extended periods of sunlight for solar power and warmth, and are in direct line of sight to communicate with the Earth. The study also found that insufficient data exists to choose a precise landing spot and describes the need for better navigation capabilities at and around the Moon.

Jim Benson, SpaceDev founding chairman and chief executive is quick to point out that NASA is not alone in wanting to visit the Moon.

Europe’ SMART-1 is on its way. Japan is readying lunar missions for 2004 and 2005. India and China are also preparing to send a series of robotic missions to the Moon.

"SpaceDev and others have been advocating the importance of a stronger U.S. private sector presence in and beyond Earth orbit for years. Recent public statements from high levels of government indicate more focus on such private sector contracts and a return to the Moon," he stated in a company press statement.

In the long term, the Moon is likely to become just a space cell phone call away. Perhaps the resurgence of lunar exploration could lead to the lunar landscape becoming a tempting travel destination for tourists?

That’s the view of Patrick Collins, a professor and space tourism expert at Azabu University in Kanagawa, Japan.

"Of course lunar tourism cannot start until the necessary facilities are constructed on the Moon. However, there appears to be a largely commercial route toward this," Collins predicts.

As lunar infrastructure develops there is the possibility of constructing buildings six times taller than on Earth. The Moon offers any builder extraordinary potential for fascinating architecture.

"Domes will be able to be even larger due to the support from the internal air pressure. This will enable the realization of humans’ eons-long dream of flying like birds. Flying and flying sports will be a truly unique new attraction of life on the lunar surface," Collins suggested during an international lunar conference late last year.

Remembering the last lunar forays of Apollo -- and the expensive bridge between Earth and the Moon that was allowed to vanish -- Collins said lunar tourism is going to be huge, a mainstream activity.

"And just as soon as it’s accepted that developing orbital tourism is of vital economic importance," Collins concluded, "the road to lunar development will be open…and it will not close a second time."