I read an obscure futurist book years ago in which a pretty cool picture of concrete steps toward becoming a stellar civilization were laid out.
A big point was that there are lots of oxidized metals on the moon. With enough heat, you can drive off the oxygen, giving you metal for construction and air to breathe.
What's really in deficit there is hydrogen, which you can bring up (although we've now found water there so maybe need less of that?). The rest can be found in the asteroid belt (turns out some asteroids are made out of something resembling tar - plenty of carbon and nitrogen).
The delta V to get off the moon is less than earth, and the lack of atmosphere means less drag to deal with, so smaller rockets and bigger payloads. Also with the lack of atmosphere, rail launch facilities are possible without killing passengers. If you can construct the payloads on the moon or in its orbit, that's less pollution and more objects in higher orbits.
A big point was that there are lots of oxidized metals on the moon. With enough heat, you can drive off the oxygen, giving you metal for construction and air to breathe.
What's really in deficit there is hydrogen, which you can bring up (although we've now found water there so maybe need less of that?). The rest can be found in the asteroid belt (turns out some asteroids are made out of something resembling tar - plenty of carbon and nitrogen).
The delta V to get off the moon is less than earth, and the lack of atmosphere means less drag to deal with, so smaller rockets and bigger payloads. Also with the lack of atmosphere, rail launch facilities are possible without killing passengers. If you can construct the payloads on the moon or in its orbit, that's less pollution and more objects in higher orbits.