Comment Re: Really Cheap Satellites may not be good (Score 1) 57
That would be the wrong way to do it, if you wanted to do it as anything other than a novelty (ex: Apollo).
It's expensive but relatively straightforward (as in, not THAT complicated, but not easy) to develop a supply chain that would be capable of getting humans to the moon and back on a regular basis, where over time the cost per trip would drop dramatically. Establishing the supply chain is expensive, but once established it would be, comparatively, inexpensive to get people from the Earth to the moon and back on a regular basis:
Multiple small launches of supplies etc. that would land on the moon as well as multiple launches of supplies and also landers to get into lunar orbit. Build the craft that would go from Earth orbit to lunar orbit and back in Earth orbit by sending up multiple modules and constructing them in space, ala the ISS. You would still need a lot of fuel, but launching fuel into space in the same craft as people is a bit less efficient as launching the fuel into space in a less expensive craft.
Other than for science and engineering purposes, I don't know that there would be a good argument that there is much value in regular back and forth to the moon, or having a constant human presence there (not a colony, but maybe an outpost kind of like the ISS, except, you know, on the moon), but it's certainly doable, probably for less than what the US spent invading Iraq.
This isn't to say we should do this, just that as far as space travel goes, it is possible to build a supply chain that would eventually yield some efficiencies, if we found a reason to invest the money into it.