THE LUNAR EXPLOITATION INDUSTRY COULD TAKE OFF WITH SOME MORE GOVERNMENT SUPPORT
by Giulio Prisco
In my last SpaceNews Op-Ed I argued that we should build a sustainable presence on the Moon before moving on to Mars and beyond.
I stated that promising business cases for returning to and start exploiting the Moon, with reasonable funding and reasonable expectations of return, are beginning to appear. Some readers criticized me for stating this without supporting evidence (I just linked to Paul Spudis’ 2016 book). They also noted that, were this the case, space companies should be rushing to the Moon with their own money, without government support.
There is, however, a big difference between the “promising business cases are beginning to appear” and “solid business cases exist” phases. In the first phase, a few venture capitalists start investing, but most large investors stay behind to see what happens. The exploitation of lunar resources is still in the first phase, and I think public funding is still needed to bootstrap the industry.
Therefore, I think governments (and in particular the U.S. government) should continue to lead the way, in partnership with private industry, and encourage commercial partners to assume leadership when the time is right. Continue reading →