re: Permanence in space
Everything we need to conquer cislunar space was developed in the 1960s, or even earlier. There are off-the-shelf solutions for propulsion, life-support, thermal protection, and everything else. Believe me, I know.
NASA is functionally incapable of using off-the-shelf solutions. They're not evil or anything, it's just the way the system is set up. Somehow, something needs to be done that allows NASA to become the research and development outfit they were intended to be, and let someone else do the heavy lifting of getting people into space, preferably profitably.