Get real.
Off the top of my head...
No solution yet to micro-gravity damage to human beings...no solution yet for long term protection from solar radiation and cosmic rays...no solution yet for Moon based food, oxygen, and water supply...no experience in mining a micro-gravity environment...no knowledge of long term impact of regolith (moon dust) on man and machines...not one of the allegedly priceless minerals on the moon has ever been tested commercially on Earth...how long before the Green Party demands the Moon be designated a pristine wilderness area?...the Space Station, in low Earth orbit, has cost $100 billion for construction and maintenance...on the Moon, multiply by 10.
I absolutely believe the day will come when man can travel Star Wars style through the Milky Way Galaxy.
But that day is thousands of years in the future.
We should be spending most of the manned space budget on robotic explorers and space telescopes.
Too what end?
With the Moon we get a return on our investment and experience -- see link posted in Post #15.
The moon is not a microgravity environment.
"no solution yet for long term protection from solar radiation and cosmic rays..."
It's called "underground". A few feet will do it just fine. You can look up the shielding calculations in any nuclear science textbook.
"no solution yet for Moon based food, oxygen, and water supply...
Lots of solar energy available. The basis for all the rest is already there. Water "might" have been a problem, but we now know there is lots of it available.
"no experience in mining a micro-gravity environment...
Again, not microgravity. Mining on the moon would actually be safer than on earth, as the needed equipment already used on earth would be grossly over-designed for the LOWER (but not micro) gravity. Swap out the diesels for electric motors and you've got all the "knowledge" you need.
"no knowledge of long term impact of regolith (moon dust) on man and machines...
Good lord, man, it's DUST (actually more nearly sand--I was lucky enough in grad school to have done a short project on a VERY small sample of "moon dust", so I have "first hand" knowlede of it). There is nothing terribly special about it. Anybody who lives near or in a desert knows all he needs to know.
...not one of the allegedly priceless minerals on the moon has ever been tested commercially on Earth..."
Actually, they have. Lots of experiments done on the materials returned by Apollo.
"..how long before the Green Party demands the Moon be designated a pristine wilderness area?..."
The greens will love it. The moon is the ideal place to do the really nasty manufacturing that the earth needs.
"the Space Station, in low Earth orbit, has cost $100 billion for construction and maintenance...
Because it "is" in low Earth orbit, with no resources of it's own already in place. Totally different from the moon.
"...in the Moon, multiply by 10.
Nope. Startup costs only.
"We should be spending most of the manned space budget on robotic explorers and space telescopes.
By definition, the MANNED space budget doesn't go for robotic explorers and space telescopes. Or are you suggesting we should de-budget manned operations altogether and just do "robots and telescopes"?
The surface of the moon is not micro gravity! A colony “on” the moon is a misnomer , it would be a colony “in” the moon, tunnels, plenty of protection from radiation and cosmic rays, falling rocks. There is O2 everywhere on the moon, simple chemical processes to release it. With O2, if ice is not utilized, combine with Hydrogen and WALLA you have water.
And the green party can stuff it up their not so pristine back door.