> but I'd expect there is much more variety of resources on asteroids

As far as I understand, in terms of easy access, yes - in particular resources that on planemos tended to sink to the core as the object formed and cooled down.

> I think an orbital station is also more attractive than the Moon from a delta-V standpoint.

LEO? Not necessarily. You still need to burn your way up the pretty steep gravity well.

Both the Moon and the asteroids are vital components of expansion into the Solar System; they're interesting in different ways.

Interesting, I didn't realize Earth's gravity was still so strong at 500km up. Getting payloads to the station from space would still be cheaper because we could rely on aerobraking, but accelerating mass to Earth escape velocity from LEO would require an extra 1km/s of delta-V compared to the Moon. I think the Moon might make sense if we can mine significant materials from it, but I haven't read much about what's there.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta-v_budget#/media/File:Del...

Yup, our well is steep :).

See also this subway-style ∆v map of our system (inspired by a similar map for Kerbal Space Program): http://i.imgur.com/AAGJvD1.png. I feel it would work great as a poster on a wall.

The map really brings home the point that "Low Earth Orbit is halfway to anywhere in the Solar System".

Neat pic (after I figured out I had to zoom in to see the destinations). It's just missing the route from the Moon to Earth Intercept(/Escape). I'd also love to see these maps include routes to the asteroid belt from the Earth/Moon/Mars.