Word: solarization
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...site for the moon settlement is uncertain, but the best candidate is near Shackleton Crater at the south lunar pole. Parts of the region are bathed in sunlight more than 70% of the time, just the thing for the outpost's solar panels. What's more, ridges and hills cast patches of ground in equally deep shadow, meaning a possible supply of ice that could be used for drinking water and hydrogen and oxygen fuel...
Astronauts who set up camp at the site would have a lot to keep them busy. NASA is exploring 180 areas of scientific research and other projects for its moon crews, from the lofty (solar physics) to the frankly commercial (installing lunar robots that could be driven remotely from Earth by paying customers to help defray costs...
...Lack of funding or political will may yet scuttle the entire audacious moon-Mars enterprise. But for now at least, it appears that a human species that has kept itself confined to the home planet for the past 34 years may once again begin moving stepwise through the solar system...
...technology isn't cheap: installing the ClimateWell system costs roughly $25,000 in Spain, $10,000 more than standard combined heating and cooling systems. But going solar would slice $130 off the monthly energy bill of a standard home, says Per Olofsson, CEO of ClimateWell. And with electricity and gas prices rocketing, users would be "much less vulnerable to fluctuations in the future." Moreover, without leaning heavily on traditional sources of fuel (the pumps forcing the salt and water around the machine are electric but use only 100 watts), the average home could reduce carbon dioxide output by 13 tons...
...equator, a comparatively easy target for first-time visitors who don't plan to stay too long. A moon base would have to be built in the harder-to-target poles. The perpetual sunshine in most of the extreme north and south means plenty of light for energy-producing solar panels; the perpetual darkness in the shadowed polar regions means a steady supply of water ice, which can be harvested for consumption and fuel manufacture. Currently, the lip of south pole's Shackleton Crater is NASA's favorite site...