Lagrange Point Colonization - Earth-Moon

Earth-Moon

An L₁ station would have a number of important functions due to its stationary position between the Earth and Moon. One, it is in a perfect location to monitor and coordinate communications among various missions on the nearside of the Moon. A vessel launched from L₁ could reach any place on the Moon within a few hours to a day. This would make it ideal for crisis management if an emergency occurred on the Moon. Furthermore, it could serve as a way station, especially once built up, and would probably be used to handle tourists and casual visitors to the Moon. A station like this could also serve as a repair center for ships moving throughout the Solar System.

The L₂ point, on the far side of the Moon, is completely shielded from the Earth by the Moon so radio telescopes placed there would receive much less interference than existing telescopes. Of course, since the Moon is tide locked, any colony on the far side of the Moon has this same benefit; a lunar facility, however, would suffer from "Moonquakes".

Both L₁ and L₂ require active stationkeeping since neither is fully stable. Colonies at the L₄ and L₅ positions would have the advantage of being stable without any need for stationkeeping, and could be used as a waypoint for travel to and from cislunar space.

In addition, they would significantly reduce the delta-V (velocity change) needed to move from one to another, or to enter or leave Earth orbit, an important drawback of any Lunar surface station, which demands high energy expenditure to escape and comparable or greater amount to soft-land.