New here, asteroids prefered

While I agree with you that small NEAs are not to be ignored, I can't agree that the moon will be limited to science and tourism. If your only point is that the moon will never be settled in a manner analogous to the settlement of the New World, then perhaps we agree. But I definitely see the moon becoming industrialized, and being able to support itself by selling raw materials throughout cislunar space.

The big advantages the moon will have are short travel times and frequent launch windows. While it must be granted that we may need asteroids for carbon and nitrogen, the moon can provide the silicon we need for solar cells and glass, most of the metals we need, perhaps enough hydrogen to make a significant contribution, and all the oxygen we could ever want.

I also see you mention Mars as a long-term place for large-scale human expansion. Given the many advantages O'Neill outlined for orbital habitats versus planetary surfaces, I don't think it's out of the question that Mars may remain largely a backwater in comparison to the High Frontier, economically speaking. Science, certainly. Tourism, perhaps, of the limited market which would apply to a destination requiring a couple of years or more of a tourist's time. Perhaps some small number of steadfast Mars enthusiasts willing to ignore the disadvantages of planetary surfaces (and perhaps being subsidized from elsewhere). But I'm not convinced Mars will see large numbers of settlers pursing economic opportunities there.

Regards,

Mike Combs

From: spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com [mailto:spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of bhn1700
Sent: Tuesday, June 08, 2010 3:27 PM
To: spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [spacesettlers] New here, asteroids prefered

New here, but after looking through some posts I'm glad to see others have responded on the asteroids vs. moon vs. Mars. Looking at the facts, asteroids definitely seem to provide the best place as the first location for humans to develop a space infrastructure and build up a human presence off Earth. By bringing in the small 10 meter asteroids for development of LEO to MEO it offers the best oppurtunity for the lowest cost to get humans started in space. Launches to and from the moon and Mars are still too costly with too low a return on investment to consider for serious human settlement.

The moon will always be a location for science and tourism. And Mars will definitely be the eventual place for human expansion on a very large scale, but the asteroids are where its at if we want to get some real numbers off world.

Brooks