A habitable zone planet near a red dwarf would be so close to the star its rotation would probably be tidally locked, and red dwarfs have a tendency to be flare stars, but I think life could adapt to these conditions. The sheer ubiquity of red dwarfs in the galactic population means the number of potentially life-bearing worlds has jumped up an order of magnitude.

Up until recently, nobody thought red dwarfs could have planets in their habitable zones.

Resources which would be better spent trying to keep this place livable in the short term, a task at which we are failing badly.

Check out the asteroids first.

However, places with no perceptible atmosphere, lots of sun power, and lower gravity, like the Moon (or maybe even Mercury), work nicely for catapult launching of materials into space.

Yes, moving out into space can and should be one of our main priorities as a species. Personally, I think there’s money to be made mining Mercury and the Gas Giants as well (I’d add Mars to the list, but what would we honestly do with all that iron?).

Unlike some space enthusiasts, I think it will be easier to come up with a lower-cost launch system to launch components from Earth than to develop a lunar industry that manufactures them and kicks them into Earth orbit (although given the premise of an existing lunar industrial system – a pretty big premise – that would be the cheapest way to go).

The industry needs a “killer app,” the equivalent of a gold strike out there.

It’s chock full of resources and energy, and it wouldn’t hurt to learn how to create stable living environments outside of our own.

Other star systems can wait. I don’t know how much of a “window” we have for a tech civilization capable of fielding a space colonization effort.

I’m thinking the short list of drivers includes asteroid mining.