WASHINGTON, D.C. More than thirty years after Apollo 11 astronauts dropped into the history books by kicking up a little lunar dust, there appears to be the makings of a Moon renaissance.

Thats how experts around the globe see it as they turn their attention to renovating wild lunar territory into a new continent for creativity.

A 21^st century Moon can serve multiple purposes, from serving as a natural science laboratory and a site for industrialization and mining, to offering watchdog duties that help avoid getting slammed by ugly "outsiders" - namely menacing asteroids and comets.

And hold onto your space helmets.

Even NASA may be jumping onto the fast-moving Moon exploration revival bandwagon.

The growing international interest in the Moon is highlighted by a workshop recently held at the European Space Agencys European Space Research Technology Centre (ESTEC) in Noordwijk, The Netherlands. The workshop was organized by a consortium of groups that included LUNEX, MoonFront, ESCAPEsp*HERE and Lunar Architecture.

This unique two-week gathering of architects, engineers, physicists and other researchers brainstormed last month more than a dozen lunar base designs. Some 14 groups are now culling together their findings into how to live, work, and utilize the aged Moon.

There is a wealth of novel ideas, said Paul van Susante, who co-managed the study and is a research assistant at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colo..

"We got rid of all the boundaries imposed from earlier studies to create the first generation permanent base on the Moon. We can do it. We can build it. We can design for it," Susante told SPACE.com.

Preliminary assessments make extensive use of inflatable structures, fashioned into various topside and underground lunar base layouts.

"We got away from those old clunky metal shacks," Susante said.

One concept involves taking the termite approach. Multiple towers form the Moon base, with outside columns casting a shadow throughout the day on a central spire, protecting the inhabited site from the blazing Sun, keeping it cool.

Another idea is to have a rolling ball as a movable lunar base. The outer surface of the slow moving sphere offers inhabitants protection from harsh blasts of deadly radiation and vicious vacuum.

Other thoughts centered on using the inside of select crater walls, offering live-in lunarnauts spectacular views of not only breathtaking moonscape, but the Earth too.

Susante said that the working groups paid special attention to a little studied phenomenon: How does a person move about inside an expansive Moonbase?

Data gleaned from Apollos "dusty dozen" of moonwalkers is limited. They were stuffed inside tight quarters of their respective lunar landing craft.

Varied ways to live and labor in the Moons one-sixth gravity -- inside the large volume of a future lunar base were suggested. Kangaroo hopping is okay for large movement, but carrying a delicate experiment, a test tube, or even a cup of coffee requires fancy footwork.

Architects took time in sketching out rippled floors for better horizontal movement. Fire pole-like railing between habitat floors, with small and larger squares to land upon depending on a persons vertical transport needs were also judged.

Susante said that by years end, the workshop findings are to be totally wrapped up.

From there, follow-on phases will look at design guidelines. A special computer model is to be generated, showing how individual lunar base subsystems link together depending on the chores of a facility on the Moon.

"The momentum is gathering for the Moon again, albeit slowly," Susante said.

"Our study called for six people on the Moon, productively living and working there by 2020. The problem is usually that people dont have vision. We have 18 years to get there," he said.

Joining in on the emerging "back-to-the-Moon, this time to stay" sentiment is the Space Frontier Foundation. They are hosting Return to the Moon Symposium 4, being held this week, July 18-22, in Houston.

The yearly event has become an intellectual watering hole for those that see joint government and commercial human settlements on the Moon. Hotels, mining facilities, and a planetary training base for future Mars explorers are among ideas reviewed in the past.

This years offerings include the viewpoints of veteran Gemini, Apollo, and shuttle astronaut, John Young. He joins other talks on lunar destiny, commercial exploitation of purported gobs of lunar ice, power beaming, including a clever design for an interfaith lunar chapel for future Moon dwellers.

NASAs Wendell Mendell is a co-chair of the event. As a senior thinker of Moon thought, he manages the Office for Human Exploration Science at the space agencys Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

Mendell said the Moons private enterprise future looked promising when technology stocks, dot com stocks, and satellite constellation plans were in full bloom. However, persistent dark clouds appearing over the financial sectors soon increased the challenge in finding angels to sponsor lunar flights, he said.

"Nevertheless, the Space Frontier Foundation is in this for the long haul and continues to sponsor the Return to the Moon symposium with the firm belief that informed minds will solve the 30-year-old dilemma of how to get there from here," Mendell said.

For the survival of humanity, the Moon is critical to planetary defense, specifically looking out for city busting or larger, more destructive Near Earth Objects. It also gives NASA something to do.

NASA is running on empty, devoid of any clearly delineated, focused goal, said William E. Burrows, professor of journalism at New York University. He is also founder and director of the universitys Science and Environmental Reporting Program.

"NASA is all over the place. The space station is a mess. The President has downgraded it. The Russians cant afford to participate except with our laundered money. The scientists hate it, and the station doesnt have a clearly articulated mission," Burrows said.

"Going to the Moon for purposes of planetary defense is an exceedingly worthwhile goal. There is no more important thing we can do with space than use it to protect Earth," Burrows told SPACE.com.

At this weeks Houston gathering, Burrows is prepared to lay out details for the Alliance to Rescue Civilization, or ARC for short.

Having humans colonizing the Moon, Burrows senses, puts humanity into a permanent lifeboat. For one, lunar colonists would hold dear a backup record of life and culture on Earth in the event of a major catastrophe anywhere on terra firma here.

"The most compelling reason to be in space is to save the species," Burrows said.

"Its important to say that we are not talking about the sky falling. Earth is an eminently seaworthy spaceship. On the other hand, no skipper in his or her right mind goes to sea without insurance, and a lifeboat," Burrows said.