By-Pass the Moon?

On Mar 2, 2008, at 7:21 PM, Charles F. Radley wrote:

> > > If we had fusion rockets, then the Moon would be even more
> > >attractive.
> >
> > Why's that?
>
> With fusion rockets we could build up infrastructure on the Moon very
> rapidly. Much faster than anywhere else.
>
I'm not sure that's a given. Trip time to the Moon would be a few
hours; trip time to the asteroid belt (or Phobos/Deimos, which I
agree are also attractive targets) would be a few days. That's not a
huge difference in terms of logistics, and there are a lot more
volatiles available in those other places.

Now, with chemical rockets, we're talking a difference of days vs.
months or years. That DOES make a huge difference in logistics,
making the Moon the obvious choice. But with fusion rockets, I'm not
so sure.

Best,
- Joe