Sure, it would take longer and cost more but you could wind up with a more flexible space presence which could be expanded or modified for future long-term exploration. The technology development and experience accumulation we hope to learn on the moon can be done near earth, where its a lot cheaper and less dangerous. This boondoggle looks like a one shot deal, there is no Plan B or long term vision. You can’t go to the outer solar system by taking off from the moon, you need to depart from LEO and this moon base is not set up to exploit any potential radical improvements in propulsion technology that might materialize in the future. Just think, if someone comes up with efficient fission or fusion rockets in a few years this whole lunar base becomes obsolete overnight. Why spend years building a base on the moon when you can get to Mars and back in 6 months? Or land on a Jovian satellite in two years? What a waste of resources–and perhaps lives.

And yes, the inevitable loss of a ship during launch (you know its bound to happen) would only mean the loss of one module, not an entire vehicle and its cargo and crew and perhaps an entire mission component.

Also, in the event we find no really good reason to develop a lunar base after we are there for a while (perhaps because all those resources we hope for do not materialize) we still will have some infrastructure left in orbit for further solar system exploration. If for any reason, technical or administrative, we decide to leave the moon, this scheme would abandon a lot of gear and investment behind, wasted (unless Donald plans to rent it out to the Chinese).

The lunar orbiting “Gateway” station also seems to have been cancelled for budgetary reasons, or maybe just to speed things up by eliminating its development efforts (its just like the Apollo space race mentality). These fuckers never learn, do they?

We need to get the business majors out of the space program. The brochure is slick, but its all marketing bullshit.