There is significant international and private-sector interest in the Moon, and there is likely to be significant activity on the lunar surface in the coming decades. U.S. national interests in the Moon mandate that NASA establish a long-term and continuous U.S. governmental presence on the Moon before international and private missions. The activities conducted at a NASA moon base would be to learn and demonstrate long-term operation of an extraterrestrial base; develop long-term life support systems at an extraterrestrial base; determine the long-term effects of 1/6 gravity on humans; develop the management and technical approaches that keep cost down, allowing permanence; conduct lunar geology and geophysics, astronomy, Earth observation, and other science as proposed and reviewed by the science community; and inspire students and the public. The U.S. Antarctic Program provides a useful analog for how a science program can be an important part of national policy. The U.S. Antarctic Program ensures that the United States has an active and influential presence in Antarctica, designed to support the range of U.S. Antarctic interests. The "Science Diplomacy'' motivation, the unified organization within a federal agency, and the field operations of the U.S. Antarctic Program can all be applied to a NASA research base on the Moon. The key challenge to maintaining a long-term NASA base on the Moon is keeping the run-out cost to a fraction of NASA's total budget-I suggest 10% or less. The U.S. Antarctic Program operation within the National Science Foundation is about 5% of that agency's total budget.
