I read Leonard's article. When will you stop assuming I haven't read your "sources" and that you can make bogus claims about them without getting caught? There is nothing in the article that contradicts the more detailed source I gave. It is simply excerpted through the eyes of a Moon fan who didn't even bother to discuss the other options in detail.

The first page of Leonard's article discusses the value of a space based system

http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/lunar_caps_011212-1.html

The second goes on to discuss the Moon

http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/lunar_caps_011212-2.html

The value of orbiting systems are not discussed and no cost comparison is made.

There are however some interesting comments related to my earlier comments on the value of a space infrastructure and the need for it to make a lunar system realistic:

"Of course, even with far-flung space-based gear, there’s also a drawback. The placement of CAPS in space is more doable given a "down-range future", one in which space has become a beehive of activity. That means a busy space station, lots of reusable in-space transportation, command and data handling services, lunar gateways, and crew and cargo transfer vehicles flying about here and there."

"The placement and tending of CAPS is greatly influenced by synergistic use of a growing space infrastructure. "That’s a big issue. Maintaining, servicing, and upgrading CAPS depends on what your vision is for the next 40 years,"

"Nearly 30 years has passed since the last Apollo mission in 1972. Along with its passing, so too did hope of planting a permanent presence on the Moon. That may change in the future, Mazanek said, and regular sortie flights to neighboring Luna could give you the ability build and upgrade Moon-based CAPS hardware."

"I think there’s a lot of strong arguments for the Moon being a very ideal astronomical location for these type of observations. It has a natural, 28-day rotation period to see the celestial sphere," Mazanek said. On the Moon there are craters deep enough that they are occulted from the sunlight continuously. That’s a perfect locale for plopping down a telescope system, he said."

"If you have CAPS on the Moon, your only real worry is power, as long as you can protect equipment against the lunar environment," Mazanek explained. There’s also ready-made poetic justice on the Moon, he added. That is, outfitting a lunar impact crater with devices to thwart future impactors."

"There’s a host of good reasons to go back to the Moon. In my opinion, this might be another good reason," the Langley study leader said.

Regards.
Mark