We've argued that our space program needs a purpose which justifies the expense. I'm in the camp of getting a sufficient number of people off this planet to ensure the survival of the species. The thing I don't understand is why would we expend all this effort to get out of one gravity well only to crawl into another. The short and mid-term goal of our space program should be to establish a permanant colony in space that is prepared to ensure man's survival.
The earth is still going to be the best place for humans to live. The purpose of any colony we build should be re-colonize earth in the event of major catastrophe. It would support seed and gene banks, an exportable technolgy base, and a sufficient population armed with a plan and the resources to jumpstart civilization once the dust settles.
I'm not saying the moon can't play a vital role in the process, but any serious exploitation of the moon for resources is going to require heav lift capabilities on the moon that may be centuries away.
That leaves us with exploration, and to the exteny possible, development of the asteroid belt as a resource base for building a "permanent" habitat in space and equiping it for its mission. As much as I'd like to see us go to Mars, resources will too valuable for a sight-seeing junket. Use the resources we have to grab the low hanging fruit if its our there. Half a dozen exploratory trips to the asteroids should be the short term objective.
