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Here are some reasons. One reason is colonization. In another 20 years it's estimated the population of the earth will reach over 8 billion. We need more places to live and we need the security that we, if the earth will be hit by an asteroid or if a nuclear war destroys our planet, can survive. That's only possible with colonies that are independent. What about industrial settlements on moon, if the industrial settlements are on moon the earth is free of toxic waste or stuff like that.
Another one is international diplomacy: the Americans went to the moon to beat the Russians, now they are building the international space station as a way to work with the Russians. Go figure, in any event prestige and international relations are among the most powerful reasons we've had for going into space. Reason number three are natural resources, maybe we'll be able to mine the moon and asteroids for ores and minerals, the resources of the earth are limited and if we mine on asteroids or other planets the resources won´t end suddenly. The best example is oil. We don't have so much oil on earth but maybe on other planets is more oil or a completely different form of energy. Another one is researching the universe - orbiting observatories like Hubble Space Telescope, Advance X-Ray Astrophysics Facility (AXAF), and Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) to study the stars, galaxies and the structure of the universe.
Peter Kokh said the moon's surface is going to teach us a lot about the history of the universe. First of all, he said, the moon is 4.6 billion years old and remains untouched. It also has a two to five yard- (1.8- to 4.5-meter) thick layer of moon dust that bears a record of solar activity and weather going back billions of years.
Kokh said, \"since the beginning, the surface of the moon has been buffeted by the solar wind of particles emanating from the sun.
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