moon and NEAs

The Delta V for getting to the moon also has to consider the landing and
take-off, when that is considered asteriods like 1982 DB Nereus (return dV is
60 m s-1) become far more attractive.

Asteriods offer better ore bodies, are easier to land on (more like dock with),
have lower dV requirements, much less likelyhood of failure leading to loss of
life as well as not needing a mass driver to launch payloads (technically
possible, but investors may not be too keen on it until proven).

There are also cultural reason for favouring asteriods, for the simple fact
that once you've seen a few you've pretty much seen them all, not many people
would miss it if an asteriod were to become a space colony, but there might be
protests about lunar strip mines.

There is a much better comparison at http://www.permanent.com/ep-a-v-l.htm

--- andy-nimmo wrote: