News from down south. Waaaay down south.

Mount Erebus has a couple of interesting features. First, it's surrounded by chimney-like projections called fumaroles. Hot steam and gas escape from the volcano's sides, melting the ice and forming ice tunnels. The steam goes up the tunnels and freeze as soon as it hits the colder air above ground. These towers can grow to up to 60 feet before collapsing. Second is its lava lake with the molten lava visible. The scalding pool gets as hot as around 1,700 degrees Fahrenheit and is miles deep.

McMurdo Station, US' main research base in Antarctica is 20 miles from Mount Erebus and they monitor the volcano's activity for most of the year. The poles would be getting a lot more attention this year for the fourth International Polar Year (since 1882). Scientists will study how the poles affect the world's weather and what forms of life can survive in extreme cold.

Mount Erebus has been erupting regularly in 2005, spewing up to 50 lava bombs every time. Imagine being bombarded with ten foot wide blobs of lava. Pretty scary, especially when Erebus can throw it up to a mile from the actual mountain.

Here's a clip of Mount Erebus' eruption.

The current Administration has - at least in words - stated its plans to return humans to the Moon within 8 - 12 years. The challenge for NASA (aside from budgetary considerations) is to, as one scientist put it, "regain its space legs."

Those "legs" suffer from a bad case of atrophy, not having been really exercised since the early 1970's. Although there have been many trips into orbit, these have consisted mainly of exercises, experiments and transport missions. The art and science of exploration for its own sake has nearly been lost. NASA chief Michael Griffin pointed out to the U.S. Congress, "We proactively made decisions as a country that caused those capabilities to go away." It will take ten years to get back to their former level, Griffin adds.

Why return to the moon? Aren't there enough problems on Earth to deal with? Two answers come to mind immediately; first, exploration requires science in order to keep human explorers as safe as possible, and extend their capabilities. If history is any indication, sciences and technologies growing out of exploration activities ultimately filter into the mainstream, to the benefit of all.

There's another reason, which can be summed up in names: Leif Eriksen. Zheng-He. Ferdinand Magellan. Lewis and Clark. Admiral Perry.

Humans are explorers, insatiably curious about the universe. It's what we do.

This by itself begs the question, "Aren't automated probes doing the job?" While probes can certainly give us an idea of what lies in wait for us, the fact is, computers at their current stage of development are incapable of value judgements. Humans can synthesize data and numerous conclusions, and react independently to unexpected situations. Machines can only obey.

The Moon is also the logical jumping-off place for travelers bound for Mars. It is even possible that many of the raw materials needed for the journey are available right there, and taking off from Luna would require far less in terms of energy than lifting off from Earth.

Even were this not the case, there is still much to be learned about our satellite. If the history of Antarctica's McMurdo station is any indication, a science station on the Moon should keep teams of scientists and explorers busy for decades.