yes agreed
Raoul, I agree these arguments are for public consumption and often hide the real motivation, which is to explore. I don't know if that by itself is too weak to put to the public, or not. For me, it's more than enough reason, as I suppose for you too. But settlements always go with exploration, or at least manned scientific outposts. I wish we could have had one of those on the moon by now - imagine us connected to it by internet and HDTV etc. It would give us such a sense of expansion compared to just huddling in our masses down here as we do now.