I firmly believe that in order to explore (and eventually colonize) with manned missions into deep space, we must first establish a permanent and self-sufficient presence on the Moon. It should be the obvious first step, but there are millions of people who insist that, with regards to the Moon, that we’ve, “been there, done that”, and that we should rashly just go on a one-off trip to Mars. Why? Just to say, “We did it!”?

These people have no clue, in my opinion, and they lack historical perspective. We as yet have no capability for manned long-duration presence in cold and hostile space. Furthermore, after the adrenalin from a dramatic Mars landing subsides and the public once again loses interest, the space program will atrophy once again as we spend another half century goofing around in Low Earth Orbit.

We need a steady, logical, step-by-step program of establishing permanent and self-sufficient bases on the Moon. As said above by loren4 in exquisite detail, it will be our proving and learning ground; our logical platform for going deeper into the Solar System, and developing and evolving a space faring economy and civilization. We’re lucky to have a sizable moon (we probably wouldn’t be here without it), and it may indeed prove to be an even more profound part of our ultimate destiny: to bring life to lifeless planets, and not just human life.

I foresee a gradual but ultimate developing human presence on the Moon and elsewhere as the centuries pass. After a time, as the moon bases become self-sufficient and lunar launch capabilities are developed, we will then (and only then) begin venturing to Mars, the Asteroid Belt, and beyond. It will be a slow, steady, evolving enterprise.

Meanwhile, technology will continue to exponentiate and accelerate. As the lunar bases mature and become prosperous and profitable to both free enterprise and governments, the Mars colonies will be taking hold and developing on their own. Once this whole scenario gets started, I believe that there will be no stopping it. It will gain its own momentum, and not only the human race, but as much of the diversified life on Earth that we take with us will be forever safe from extinction due to planetary catastrophes or even, billions of years into the future, the death of Sol, our beloved Sun!

Hi Al, As much as I believe that human and machine intelligence will develop a symbiotic relationship my conviction and prediction is we will not limit ourselves to machine presence as we explore the near Solar System. I can see us viewing Titan through the eyes of machine, but not the Moon and Mars. I do believe thinking machines will play a significant role in our presence on the Moon and Mars. It will be interesting to see how humans in interacting with a thinking machine world recognize the rights of the latter over time. I imagine citizenship on Mars and the Moon will include a recognition of machines as equal partners in the development of these off-Earth worlds.