Rick Baudé Wrote:
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> Dumb rockets to start with after that you start
> mining the moon for water as a fuel and begin
> lunar mining. There's a boatload of iron nickel
> asteroids that have smashed into the moon over the
> eons. If we hadn't killed the moon program we
> would have been on our way to mars decades ago.


There's a very large # of concepts around for reducing the cost of putting a payload into orbit... suffice it to say that with SpaceX pioneering the path for private enterprise then - assuming there is a profit to be had - the most efficient mechanism in terms of cost will be selected for in a darwinian round of competitive space agences ;0

Now regardless of dumb rockets (possibly the most efficient IMO), space elevetory, Gauss Cannonry, etc.... The only thing you need to get to the moon is the basis of an industrial facility. Helium-3, almost outrageously abundant on the moon, provides a large degree of all fuel and energy you might need, not to mention the next to unlimited solar power capabilities..

Combine the 'several orders of magnitude cheaper energy sources available in situ' with the raw materials of the moon, and you have the best 'leaping off' point for space exploration that even science fiction authors have dreamt of (barring the psuedo-magical matter teleportation)

Water then becomes the only real concern -- pipe it from the poles if present in sufficient quantities... but if not then what?

And a more abstract concern... that Helium-3 isn't renewable. What do you do when it runs out?

And even more abstract... in any industrial facility, what do you do about that insanely fine ground dust in your machinery?