Now that we're sadly past the era of "Big Science", we need to rely on business models to get anything done. This includes trips to the moon. I would argue tho

Now that we're sadly past the era of "Big Science", we need to rely on business models to get anything done. This includes trips to the moon. I would argue though, that even if Big Science were to make a comeback, manned Moon or Mars missions would not be an efficient use of those precious dollars. There is much more pressing and productive research that is starved for funding at the moment. Robotic space exploration is cheap and effective, and scientifically far more useful. I say this as one of the biggest space nuts I know. Let SpaceX and Bigelow Aerospace do their thing and develop commercial space. We'll get our Moon bases eventually, it'll just take time to grow the economic infrastructure.