> I also don't see the facination with the L points and Phobos. <br /><br />I'm not exactly sure of the origin of L-point interest beyond Dr. O'Neill, but I share the interest as they are good places for stable, massive strucutres. Phobos, Deimos and other small, mixed bodies are my own personal interest because of the shear amount of resources available in them. Very easy to mine compared to some other asteroids (Eros, etc), and without that inconvenient gravity well to ship out of. Phobos and several of the Earth-crossing/NEO objects are known to have significant volatiles content - becomes water, plastics, fertilizer. <br /><br />LEO has station-keeping issues, the Moon has dust and temperature issues, Mars has distance/time issues. Take your pick. I think the Mars system has the most social/industrial potential, while the NEOs offer a certain stripmine/gas-station cachet. I don't see the Moon as a natural steppingstone for space industrialization - it might get developed as such, but will require significant external resources, probably from cis-Martian industry. <br /><br />Remember, when I'm discussing development of Mars, it is not with NASA at the helm. At most they would rent time from the organizations that build the Phobos and Mars bases. They simply aren't a player (except tech dev) in the scenario I'm talking about. What we need is a Frontier Authority or Ports Authority, per the Private Mars thread. It's not about exploration alone, but development, construction and resource exploitation - all of which NASA is largely prevented from doing by charter. The new Space Age is about what private (or pub-priv) organizations can do in space, not about a New Socialist Space Age. Even the Russians understand this. You and I will never fly on the Shuttle, but we both have a very good chance of flying in space.<br /><br />Thank you for the Amen. Sometimes I know I'm preaching to the choir.<br /><br />Josh <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <div align="center"><em>We need a first generation of pioneers.</em><br /></div> </div>