I would guess that there are probably a significant amount of useful raw materials on the moon. If they could ever make it cost effective, there's probably a profit in mining.   See 37 other replies

Energy will get us up there. Once nuclear fusion starts happening the H3 on the moon will have us running up their on a regular basis. Right now the Spacex Dragon Capsule is being designed to land on the moon and return. The heat shield is already done and the propulsive landing rocket was just test fired. The Orion is also well funded although it's only good for flybys with no lander.
Roscosmos and NASA have been looking hard at the moon ever since water was discovered there and the two are talking about collaboration on a series of moon bases.
The Google Lunar X prize is drawing millions into private lunar exploration. China has a plan to get there.
I don't see a major funding problem in getting to the moon. More money is aimed at the moon than ever.   See 37 other replies

Its true there is no advantage yet to developing the moon for military purposes. That is why funding to get back to it will keep getting derailed. Although supposedly it might be feasible to get solar panels on the moon and beam down the energy collected through microwaves. That sounds like a military application but would make a lot more sense to equip it to artificial satellites. Satellites have already replaced spy planes, soon they will replace our snipers too.   See 37 other replies

:( Yep.   See 37 other replies

The more people that travel from New York to California, the more gets invested in the infrastructure and the vehicles that make the journey and eventually the cost and time it takes goes way down.   See 37 other replies

Didn't you promise to stop posting here? Try 5 years, and there is much more going on besides just space tourism. That's just a drop in the bucket.   See 37 other replies