Building a ship in the desert: Just say No to the proposed Earth-

I have not read the MMM but I am familiar with NASA's
proposal. I think alot of this boils down to the same
arguements NASA had during the Apollo mission. Does a
lunar descent vehicle have to rendevous with something
near the Moon or something orbiting the Earth?

Most people look at Apollo for inspiration and opt for
something close to the Moon, hence L1. The proposals
I have seen argue for an L1 station as it can also be
used for launching missions to Mars in the far future
as well as serve as a platform for servicing GEO
satellites.

Another reason for an L1 base is because of the Lunar
Transfer Orbit. From Earth we cannot just shoot
directly at the Moon with human cargo but need someway
to break our descent. One option is through using an
L1 that we are able to do so. Now I have also heard
of proposals of using the ISS as a platform for
jumping into a LTO but I have not read those
proposals.

Perhaps someone more well versed in orbital dynamics
can explain better lunar transfer orbits but you get
the gyst that it is something which must be
considered.

Ryan

p.s. Sorry for the somewhat garbled response but it is
still to early in the morning for me :)