TO THROW ROCKS, OF COURSE: Why America Needs a Presence on the Moon.

If fuel can be made from frozen water at the Moon’s poles and then moved into low, medium or geosynchronous earth orbits, everything changes. Satellites can be refueled in space, requiring smaller rockets to place them into orbit. Routine travel to the Moon from a space station becomes practical. Missions to Mars become affordable. Most importantly, it may become economically viable to mine near-earth asteroids, potentially unlocking literally quintillions in resources, an economic bounty unmatched in human history.

The key terrain at these polar locations is incredibly small. While the lunar North Pole has some water, most is located at its South Pole in deep craters free from sunlight. To make fuel, processing equipment must be installed on two or three crater tops exposed to the sun, the largest of which is only a few football fields wide. Thus, these crater tops may become the solar system’s most exclusive addresses.

If the Moon does open to fuel production, several other points become strategically important.

Nothing terribly new here for space nerds, but a good read nonetheless.

(Classical reference in the headline.)