[hopespringseternal]

I have to believe that this argument is like two fleas fighting over who owns the dog.

Neither one is likely to happen any time soon. For self-sustaining bases, energy would probably have to be 10 to 100 times cheaper.

If you are talking about just going, we need infrastructure that nobody is even considering.

[E Rocc]

Neither one is likely to happen any time soon. For self-sustaining bases, energy would probably have to be 10 to 100 times cheaper.

It is already. Solar power is practical on the moon, unlike Earth. There's no atmosphere to absorb almost all of it like there is here.

Space travel is essential eventually. Not only does it give us other places to go if something happens to Earth, but it makes it practical to deflect junk that might hit us.

-Eric