Why Go To The Moon, Mars, And Beyond?

Limited Resources

There are 6.6 billion people on this planet. While everyone talks about oil, food, or clean water, there are other resources which we have already "run out of." Copper for example. While there are still plenty of unmined copper deposits, what's in the ground isn't enough. Based on current copper usage per person in the first world, a full half of humanity can never be brought to our standard of living.

There are other resources which are in similar conditions...

http://www.asimovs.com/_issue_0806/ref.shtml

The Choice

Humanity has a choice to make this century. It is a simple choice. Either kill off approximately 4 billion people, or expand to the stars. Why not just learn to make do with what we have here on Earth? Because that will never happen. It goes against our nature. The wealthy and powerful will not accept poverty just so that others can continue to exist.

Why The Moon?

The moon alone will not solve all our problems. Neither will any other single location.

Humanity must become a truely space-faring species. This requires us to develop a very large skill set, which includes living and operating on the moon and similar bodies. The moon is the low hanging fruit in this skill set, and a logical first step.