Re:Not many benefits? (Score 1)

Radiation shielding: No, the radiation level is an obstacle. The benefit is the outcome of our research and development in ways to protect people from it. Think of the uses we would have here on Earth for such protection. And I'm not thinking apocalyptic visions of the future. Large amounts of water and metal structure: When you recycle the water you don't need to carry much. The amount you would need for protection from radiation is far more than you would need to carry for drinking, eating, and cleaning. The structure necessary to protect is also way way way more than we need support the loads. I think the last numbers I looked at show that we'd need about 1" thickness in Aluminum to bring the lethal levels down to barely survivable. Then add to that the fact that we're moving farther away from using metal structures and toward composites so we can get them lighter and stronger. Metal isn't a good heat insulation, either. Land mass: I don't see how that's an obstacle. We haven't performed an extensive search for large amounts of water. And we can recycle what we have. Again I say the water needed for the trip is a lot less than you think. Lunar missions: Alloys, composite materials, computers, communications, power systems, propulsion, air filtration. This is just a short list of the research areas that benefitted from the massive amount of money that was spent to get us to the moon. Yes, they were being researched before the space program, but they, and we, certainly benefited from that extra dollar or two or billion.