By-Pass the Moon?

Yeah, I saw on one of the Usenet Newsgroups where somebody posted the
link to this and then expressed the opinion that the asteroids were a
better sources of raw materials than the moon. I posted to say:

Two points:

1. While there are certainly advantages to asteroidal resources, lunar
resources have advantages of their own. Most relate to their proximity,

which vastly reduces travel times. I wouldn't care to get into an
argument
over which should be exploited first. I'm sure we'll use both, and
think
whichever is first, it will in turn facilitate getting to the other.

2. These guys may be advocating the right thing for the wrong reason.
Their
reasoning is not that we should skip the moon in favor of asteroids
because
they are a superior source for the raw materials needed to economically
develop space. Their reasoning is that trips to asteroids will more
quickly
get us back to the only important space goal, which is Getting to Mars
Real
Soon.

Regards,

Mike Combs