Especially if all we’re going there for is to exploit whatever resources it has.
You may misunderstand this part. There’s no way any mineral resource is worth mining on the moon and bringing back to earth. Even tritium has no actual documented presence and would only be useful if we had nuclear fusion.
It’s more circular. Supporting humans in space will always be stupendously expensive, but a huge part of the cost is launching stuff from earth. The best way to make space cheaper and more reliable is to be able to use stuff already there, instead of bringing it from earth.
If you can find water and have sufficient energy, you could make your own water not only for humans but to grow crops, oxygen, even rocket fuel. That alone could save billions of dollars and make a huge difference in being able to sustain a successful program
You may misunderstand this part. There’s no way any mineral resource is worth mining on the moon and bringing back to earth. Even tritium has no actual documented presence and would only be useful if we had nuclear fusion.
It’s more circular. Supporting humans in space will always be stupendously expensive, but a huge part of the cost is launching stuff from earth. The best way to make space cheaper and more reliable is to be able to use stuff already there, instead of bringing it from earth.
If you can find water and have sufficient energy, you could make your own water not only for humans but to grow crops, oxygen, even rocket fuel. That alone could save billions of dollars and make a huge difference in being able to sustain a successful program