[Sequoyah101]

Why?

Name two good reasons we should go back to the Moon or even go to Mars?

I would think we have learned enough about he ill effects of weightlessness and other than that exposure to radiation, to know that without some means of mitigating both of these the trip is without merit.

Are the chicoms going to colonize the Moon or Mars? How about India? Russia?

[Former Proud Canadian]

1. To gain the high ground.

2. Because it's there.

[SunkenCiv]

In 20 years the US will have a permanent scientific presence on the Moon; also a number of US companies will have permanent facilities there, not least because they'll have to build stuff for the the permanent scientific presence; China, India, and probably Israel will also have at the very least put people there, even if they don't wind up building permanent facilities; I doubt that Russia will accomplish this, their plan for putting one cosmonaut on the Moon just long enough to plant the flag and take some photos never made it to feasibility, and they haven't improved with age.

The reason effects of long-term weightlessness was studied was to figure out what to do about in during long-duration missions, such as human missions to Mars.

Reasons:

1. Rare Earth metals are not so rare in space; tourist travel will also take place, and will become more commonplace after there's a destination, such as a Las Vegas on the lunar surface, and orbiting zero-G hotels.
2. It'll be fun to watch your head explode.

[Svartalfiar]

I would think we have learned enough about he ill effects of weightlessness and other than that exposure to radiation, to know that without some means of mitigating both of these the trip is without merit.

And how do you develop ways to defend yourself? Sure, theory is great but the real world is real good at crashing down and ruining those numbers. The Moon is a great place that's close and relatively cheap to get to, that allows for more study and practical experimentation on those subjects.

Also, what else needs to be studied/developed for a Mars mission? You don't put a blanket halt on everything just because one thing is holding you up. parallel lines of development keep going, and the other issues will catch up eventually.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_spinoff_technologies