See -- the money is there for private non-profit space ventures like
funding building and launching the first self-replicating seed leading to
a space habitat (after it was first designed by volunteers using
simulation and networked CAD tools).

http://www.dcexaminer.com/articles/2005/08/10/business/04business11moon.txt

"A Northern Virginia firm is offering to send you to the moon - literally
- for a price. Eric Anderson, president of Arlington-based Space
Adventures, announced Wednesday that his company is offering two $100
million seats on an around-the-moon trip planned for 2008. "We have
identified over a thousand people around the world who have the financial
resources to participate in an expedition to the moon," Anderson said at a
press conference in New York announcing the plan. "But the question
remains, who among this group has the sense of exploration and adventure
to undertake such a historic mission?""

--Paul Fernhout

obviously I am being sarcastic to an extent, but truthful as well......

[ For example ......Bill Gates and Craig McCaw of Nextlink and Nextell fame invested tons of money in the
said to be failed Teledesic satellites.......
at one time......such loudly touted plans as 840 Low Earth Orbit satellites by 2000, then it was 2003.
.....then the number of satellites was scaled down to 240.....
...but Gates hasn't given up on it.....maybe people think he has.....
......but Gates has not himself.....he has yet to through in the towel......but he has money to burn......so to speak......

from a recent interview......
http://www.microsoft.com/billgates/speeches/indiana.asp
QUESTION: -- I was wondering if we're going to have pay roaming charges when we get onto Teledesic? MR. GATES: Okay. Well, Teledesic hasn't launched a single satellite yet. They'll be excited somebody wants to know their pricing structure at this stage. They'll be very low cost for rural users. For people who are in the city, you'll want to connect up with fiber, because the satellite, when it goes over a city, it can't serve everyone in that city area. And Teledesic is not designed for voice communications. It's incredible overkill if all you want to do is voice. There are people who are actually about to go operational, people like Inmarsat, Iridium and PanAmerican with voice satellite systems where you can talk anywhere on the globe. This system is for video, you know, it's basically the Internet in the sky. And, I don't think they'll charge roaming charges. But, then again, they'll have to charge something. --------------------------------
[The first 12 satellites are expected to cost under $1 billion, substantially less than previous system designs,
and provide coverage needed to launch service in several areas of the world. The remaining 18 satellites would expand coverage globally.
http://www.teledesic.com/newsroom/articles/02-01-2002.html
01-Feb-02 ]

And this recent article pretty well documents about the same.......there would be
lotsa lotsa of money in the space industry------

So money......isn't the issue........
Space Business Booming On Tuesday, the International Space Business Council (ISBC) released its annual report titled, "State of the Space Industry," and the numbers are looking good. The report states that, "now is a good time to be involved in the space and satellite industry." All aspects of space industry are growing. Military, civil government, and commercial industries are proving to offer numerous new opportunities. Among the statistics cited in the report, the total turnover generated from commercial services and government programs reached $103 billion in 2004 and are expected to surpass $158 billion by 2010. Scott Sacknoff, President of ISBC, commented on the growth of the industry, "With the diversity of the sector ranging from Wal-Mart's IT network to NASA Mars mission to the military's hunt for Al Qaeda, the size of the industry should not be a surprise." (SPX, Space Daily, http://www.spacedaily.com/news/industry-05zg.html, 8/10/05).
More tangible issues with the moon are the lack of atmosphere (compared to the earth), gravity, source of power,
radiation, and the other factors in relation to making it a habitat suitable to maintain or support long term human life.

Certain research areas that would surely entail trillion dollar plus annual investments plus the actual KNOW HOW to overcome
the unknowns and impediments.

How does one create the atmosphere that would allow life to survive on the moon, the gravity that would allow human life (our bodies for example need gravity)
to survive,(we need oxygen and carbon dioxide to survive there is not such in ratios we are accustomed to in
the atmosphere on the moon)--- sources of viable long term
power to support human life.... ( only short term small needs could come for a small area from Prometheus even if that is approved)

Then we have the radiation dangers that have to be overcome.....
and blah blah.......ad nauseam......

If only it were as simple as merely being a cash flow problem or a lack of interest........IMO.....
we could dress up like rah rah Hooters girls to seduce some oil shieks :)

Yeah right......NOT.......!

That was droll acerbic sarcasm...........

Oh and BTW.........

I am certainly not advocating that anyone should ever offer themselves up as a means to an end......
or in the name of space travel by any means.....

That would be asinine and asburd.........not good.......

Anyhow.......If you look in my Ads service query, in the table of contents in each journal on the right hand side.....
there are studies and papers pertaining to MARS, and some for the moon as well........
In the most popular headline.........

2003AGUFM.P42C..04H: Haberle,+ The Potential for Melting of Subsurface Ice at the Phoenix Lander Latitudes in Mars' Recent Past

Each journal query is configured differently........
But the queries are all on one page on my homepage or here http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/exec_myads2?id(0250053&db_key=AST
http://home.earthlink.net/~msredsonya/

> from a recent interview......
> http://www.microsoft.com/billgates/speeches/indiana.asp

1998 was recent???

http://www.microsoft.com/billgates/speeches/1998.asp

My, oh my! Where does the time go? Seems it was 1978
just the other day...

Don't blink -- another 10 years might whiz by. Dang!

Brook

>
> > from a recent interview......
> >
http://www.microsoft.com/billgates/speeches/indiana.asp