Queen Isabella however knew that even though Columbus wished to head into unknown waters it was on a living breathing planet.
We are virtually certain that the Moon is a rock.
I'm sure the blueprints for High tech Laser weapons and nuclear missiles to point at every other country on Earth in addition to surveillance and spy equipment to use on everyone including our own citizens is the real ulterior motive, and I'm willing to bet the plans and blueprints are already laid out and preliminary work has begun behind closed doors, not to mention the marketing campaign to sell it.
I'd rather see nature take it's course, have mankind die out eventutally, and spend the money on quality of life here for all people while we're on top of the food chain.
That's me, and I'll bet not just me either.
There are 200 billion stars in our galaxy, the Milky Way galaxy, and the last time I looked at theory, about two thirds of them were believed to have planetary systems. All of my life I have hoped that man could begin to colonize space within my lifetime. This is actually one of the primary interests I have had in my lifetime, and I originally intended to have a career doing research on more advanced forms of spacecraft propulsion, although practical concerns ultimately forced me into a more practical line of work. I find it odd that anyone would think it appropriate to remain on this little speck of dust forever, and never explore anything.
Robert Goddard and Konstantin Tsiolkovsky were pioneers in this field and they certainly had no interest in using space for conquest. There are probably many Earthlike worlds in this galaxy, and some of the others can be rendered habitable with terraforming techniques. Going into space seems to be one of the greatest adventures in Man's future. That's why so many stories have been written about it, e.g. "From the Earth to the Moon," by Jules Verne. What is the base, ulterior motive for the people who listen at radio telescopes hoping to find signs of life on other worlds?
The moon is not of such tremendous interest in and of itself, but the short term reason for putting humans in to space is to get good at it so that we can put more humans into space later. Anyway, having any space colony at all strikes me as being a huge adventure that I would gladly pay more tax to support.
Honestly, the idea that anyone who wants to explore space cannot have any motive other than the conquest of the Earth is so bizarre that it strikes me as either collosal ignorance, astounding shortsightedness, or mental illness.
