Setting up a permanent lunar presence needs investment in biology

In December 1972, Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt spent 75 hours on the lunar surface during Apollo 17. They drove a rover, conducted three spacewalks and collected samples across the longest crewed visit to another world. When Cernan climbed back into the ascent module, he became the last human to stand on the moon. More than 50 years later, NASA intends not just to return, but to stay. In late March, the agency’s Ignition event laid out an aggressive three-phase plan to establish a permanent lunar base by 2030, alongside a new commercial framework called “Science as a Service” designed to accelerate the technologies that will make it possible.