The Deep Space Economy Begins on the Moon
On this episode of Primer, experts including America’s Artemis astronauts explain why humanity’s return to the moon is the start of a bigger leap.
Illustration: Christian Capestany
More than 50 years after humans last stepped foot on the moon, governments and entrepreneurs are racing to commercialize Earth’s closest neighbor. The moon itself holds the promise of vast new resources for humanity to tap. But perhaps more importantly, it can be used as a base from which humans can travel to Mars and the rest of the solar system. This time, it won’t just be “flags and footprints.”
In recent years, new investors have been bidding up a space economy now said to be worth about $600 billion. The bulk of that is tied to the lucrative business of satellites, but that may be changing as a new ecosystem of governments, big-name companies and scrappy startups turn their eyes to the moon. On this episode of Bloomberg Primer, Why a Lunar Ecosystem Could Be Worth Billions, we analyze what it will take for humans to get back to the moon—and stay there.