Sorry to pop your bubble, but there isn’t anything on the moon that is worth the cost of getting there and sending it back. What is the most expensive raw material on earth? Platinum? Gold? Both somewhere around $1700/ounce. IN 1976 dollars the cost of an ounce of moon rocks was about $1,783,000 due to the transportation costs. Let me know what raw material that you think is on the moon that is worth that much
I imagine the greatest value of a moon base would be as a launch platform for deeper space missions.
Newt’s plan is for inner-city youth build the moonbase, thus saving money and instilling a work ethic.
A rail gun on the moon could fire cargo pallets of valuable metals back to earth for very little money.
Getting there the first time is the expensive part. With the moon’s light gravity and no atmosphere, a solar powered rail gun would become just another basic piece of industrial hardware.
Fire the pallets into Low Earth Orbit to be collected by an autonomous tug for a consolidated delivery package. Have the rail gun send an ablative heat shield made from moon rock to protect the cargo during entry into the earth’s atmosphere.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBQHtF3WhMw
Earth and Moon Gravity Well Comparison