It wont be the moonies.

No, you're wrong and I'm right and don't forget that.

NEAR actually happened and the craft landed and wasn't even designed
to land on anything. Try this with Mars or the moon. The horse
won't fly.

The wealth is in the asteroids and dormant comets.

Space settlements coincide nicely, and thriving ones at that.

Settlements on the moon and Mars will come at greater expense.

I'm in favor of exploring planets and moons - don't get me wrong -
I'm just saying that there's not much safety nor economic future in
settling these places. You want to thrive, not just survive.

I think the ideal places to settle are lunar L5 and the dormant
comets. Lunar L5 may well become the center of civilization shortly
after we first set out and do our near asteroid extraction-molding-
castings.