The moon ....a great place to launch from. Not to mention He3 to fuel a fusion drive.
Yeah, a much shallower gravity well make for a better launch site. If you can actually get fabrication situated on the Moon, you’re really ahead of the game since the big stuff won’t have to be ported out of our gravity well.
“The moon ....a great place to launch from. Not to mention He3 to fuel a fusion drive.”
My thoughts exactly. Build up a lunar base. Ideally, the spacecraft that goes to Mars will be assembled on the moon. Basically use the moon as our stepping stone into the solar system. Of course, this means that I doubt I’ll see man on Mars in my lifetime, but space exploration could be a whole lot easier if you are launching from a body that has 1/6th Earth’s gravity.
Moreover, we could make contact with the aliens on the far side of the moon as well as those that dwell inside the moon! :-P