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[DJ]

I don't understand why we would want to colonize the moon. The climate is beyond inhospitable requiring great amounts of work to do anything with. The travel to and from the moon would be extremely expensive, getting materials there would also. there are so many expenses.
All these costs, for what? It would be easier and more profitable to set up a base in the middle of the Sahara.

Moon has much lower gravity than Earth and no atmosphere, so launching stuff from it is cheaper. I think it has similar mineral resources to Earth, so it can be mined. So a Moon base would make it much cheaper to construct space vehicles of all types. More immediately, communications satellites could be deployed to Earth's orbit at a fraction of the current costs.

[zchris13]

Don't forget the mining. It's easier to mine because there is less gravity. I think.

Once you got started, you could keep building with materials from the moon itself.

[x2yzh9]

Yes, so if planned correctly a lunar colony would pay off in the long run. Also, colonies would(hopefully)take some of the human population from earth, thus stabilizing it since the exponentially increasing population today will crowd the earth, resulting in poor conditions unless it is stabilized.

[Duke 2.0]

 And due to the interesting property of no oxygen, all metals produced up there instantly fuse together when they touch. The only thing preventing that down here on earth is an oxide coating on all of our metals. Imagine production where welding is no longer necessary. Hell, what kind of space metals can be made in microgravity?

[Dwarf]

And due to the interesting property of no oxygen, all metals produced up there instantly fuse together when they touch. The only thing preventing that down here on earth is an oxide coating on all of our metals. Imagine production where welding is no longer necessary. Hell, what kind of space metals can be made in microgravity?

What?
Didn't find that on google after a quick search, and seems pretty unlikely. I can be corrected, though.

[andrea]

in the long run.

and that is why it won't happen unless we get some big changes. who cares about long run? lets get all the money we can now.

bah.

still, i hope to see moon colonies and men on mars in my lifetime. Think ahead people. we are on a tiny, tiny ball in the universe. don't you think we are ready to jump outside?

[Eidalac]

And due to the interesting property of no oxygen, all metals produced up there instantly fuse together when they touch. The only thing preventing that down here on earth is an oxide coating on all of our metals.

Um... no...

While most metals do form an oxide layer, all that would do is create extra slag during wielding, making it easier to create good clean wields if there were never any oxygen around.  The only process I know of where metals can contact wield is if they are polished perfectly smooth, to the point where electrons are stripped so atoms can chemically bond on contact.

However, the lower gravitational pull on the moon should let us more precisely control the formations of crystal within a metal, which may yield better materials.

[Vester]

I thought the Moon had a rudimentary atmosphere?

[Dwarf]

I thought the Moon had a rudimentary atmosphere?

Naw. Its really just a rock. A rock with nothing around it. Except a bigger rock.

[sneakey pete]

And gravity. It would be awful when your mail gets delivered and it floats off.

Err...
It has about 6m/s^2 of gravity.

As for the moon, well. I can certainly see the benifits of some industries being performed there, however, the costs of getting to the moon are immense. Until we get some kind of launch option that isn't rocket based going, i do not see that we'll even be having a (meaningful and productive. Rovers don't count) extended robotic presence on the moon, let alone human presence.

[Eidalac]

I thought the Moon had a rudimentary atmosphere?

Eh, only in a very technical sense.  It's far to thin for most people to think of it as an atmosphere; with the lower gravity and lack of a magnetic field, the moon just can't hold on to much gas of any kind.

[qwertyuiopas]

The greatest advantage of moon colonization is that reduced gravity makes takeoff and landing easier and more efficient, and you already have gravity and a huge structure rather than having to construct a massive satelite platform.

The moon will become a popular starting point for intergalactic travel. And most likely the largest land-based spaceship manufacturing location.

[Il Palazzo]

It has about 6m/s^2 of gravity.

1/6th og Earth's gravitationall acceleration equals ~1,6 m/s²

Il Palazzo - correcting people since forever.

[Cthulhu]

And then we develop FTL travel and the first ship to use it disappears mysteriously.

[Il Palazzo]

And then we develop FTL travel and the first ship to use it disappears mysteriously gets eaten by Cthulhu.

On a serious note, moon could be a good place for launching Orion type propulsion spaceships, for which we already have the technology. People on Earth would have an easier time accepting the fact that a bit of Moon's surface gets irradiated for the greater glory of mankind that they'd have with their own planet.
Not to mention that significantly lower gravity and lack of atmosphere would greatly reduce pollution anyway.