Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_space_elevator

Lunar Elevator can be built today using commercial Zylon fiber.

Lunar Elevator gives cheap access to lunar materials, feedstock for space industries. We can extract oxygen for space tugs delivered to LEO.

Click here for Wikipedia article

We can build large structures in space, from lunar materials e.g. solar power satellites and space habitats. We could also soft-land heavy equipment on to the Moon. Have you read the High Frontier by Gerard O'Neill ?

Link: http://thespacereview.com/article/1239/1

"Historically, opening frontiers began with professionals but were sustained and developed by amateurs. Amateurs perform the work of transforming a frontier into a developed society. While professionals tend to work for others who will own the fruits of professional labor, amateurs tend to perform their tasks to further their own interests and own the final product of their efforts. They turn the work of settlement and development into a means of extracting a living from undeveloped resources. The tools and procedures they develop become a technological base that forms the backbone of the society founded by their efforts."

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