Titanium helped put the US on the Moon, and the USSR never got there. Similarly, US military aircraft used a lot of titanium, while Soviet military aircraft had larger engines to move all that steel, and a shorter range as a consequence (they planned to fight their air war near their European bases anyway; also built a lot more craft), as well as less manueverability.
Titanium remains expensive. Processing it on the Moon will work fine as long as it is done by a sovereign colony, rather than employees working under an EPA-crippled enviroweenie-impact agenda. Thanks decimon.
Mentioned is helium but not helium-3. Add helium-3 extraction to the operation...
And speaking of helium... http://www.strindbergandhelium.com/content/iron.html
Could you imagine the nightmare of who would tax the moon? The owner of Moon Mining Intergalactic, who was born in Russia, raised in Britain, lives in the Caribbeans, America runs the transport, and China processes the metal.
Didn’t someone achieve a breakthrough to dramatically reduce the refining cost of titanium metal recently? If they succeed, it could mean automobiles that are way lighter than even aluminum-bodied cars but with just as much structural strength.