Why the next decade’s hot space race revolves around the moon

If China’s just-launched Chang’e 3 lunar probe (quaintly known as the Jade Rabbit) drops its robotic rover down on the Moon’s surface in mid-December as scheduled, it will be the first soft landing on our nearest celestial neighbor in 37 years. It also kicks off a resurgence of interest in putting people and hardware down on the Moon, and the beginning of a new wave of robotic visits to test, trawl, drill, and construct there in decades ahead.