Studying space plasmas from a lunar base

During the late 1960s and early 1970s, space plasma physics research on and near the moon thrived, with several satellites operating in lunar orbit and several sets of instruments arrayed on the lunar surface. The moon was found to be a uniquely ''clean'' plasma physics observatory when compared with all other celestial bodies that have been visited by spacecraft. Having no atmosphere and no intrinsic magnetic field and having no induced magnetic field because of its very poor electrical conductivity, it provides no advance warning of its presence to approaching space plasmas which therefore impinge directly on its surface. Magnetic lines of force from external sources thread through the moon in a rectilinear manner as though it did not exist. It is anticipated that space plasma physics will remain an active discipline when a lunar base becomes possible and that the moon will be the site of much important research whose exact nature it is impossible to foresee today