The Moon - Big Dusty Ball-o-Rock With No Air and Extreme Temperatures

[26C.Z969]

Look - it's NOT a Good Place.

Survival there, even for small colonies/industries, is
going to be VERY difficult and expensive.

So, is it WORTH it ?

On the whole, IMHO, it is NOT worth it.

It MAY have a few advantages as an intermediate point
for Mars ... but most of those issues (mostly fuel/
supply related) COULD be dealt with using supply
points in Earth orbit MUCH more cheaply.

And Mars itself, not MUCH better.

Sorry to be such a downer, but THINK about this stuff.

Mars will NOT be a "New Earth" unless we crash large
icy asteroids, maybe a couple of Jupiter's moons, into
it and wait a long time. And then there's the magnetic
field issue ... the "secure your investment" issue ....

So ... again ... IS IT WORTH IT ???

No. Not really.

"New Earths" are Out There - somewhere - but nowhere
especially close and convenient. Thing is we're gonna
need "warp drive" or whatever to GET there and there's
absolutely nothing like that on the near tech horizon.
Should we waste the money and effort on putting a few
pointless footprints on the moon and Mars even though
we can't get anything useful FOR it ?

No.

Put yer money into "warp drive" instead.

Might not be possible ... but note if it isn't then
any 'aliens' are just as stuck so we won't have to
worry about competition.

Moon, Mars ... ROBOTICS instead. MUCH easier/cheaper
and more productive.

Hey, this ain't 1963 ... the USA/West aren't rolling
in cash anymore. Gotta be SMART. "Visionary", well ...
that was for 1963 - and mostly WAY "out there".