Exploiting the Moon

This book talks about the coming exploitation of the moon for materials and manufacturing. This has a lot of precedents in things like the California and Alaskan gold rushes. There is a need for infrastructure on the lunar surface, and that is in the design phase. Major challenges remain in who owns what, and conflicts can be expected. All in all, an exciting time is coming. What we learn on the moon, we can mostly apply on Mars. And, why stop there?With Commercial firms involved and interested in mining the moon and asteroids, Earth will have to develop more complex "Space Law" to address who owns what and who benefits. In the past, the new frontiers, America, the Yukon, the "West" were mostly wild and ungoverned, at least at first. Hopefully, we will think this thing through, so no corporation or Nation-state will be able to enrich themselves, at the cost of others. This involves interpretation od the Outer Space Treaty, signed by most nations. Of particular interest are sites on the lunar surface with resources that could be mined, areas of total or no sunlight. Looks like we will need a legal cadre to sort out the details. But, there is some precedent in Antarctica. What is the most valuable thing on the moon? Well, if you want something light weight that is worth bringing back to Earth, that wuld be Helium-3, of use in a new generation of fusion reactors that would be less costly, and much less dangerous. Probably the next thing would be water, and we would use that in-situ both for greenhouses, but also cracked down, with solar power, to its constituent hydrogen and oxygen. That's rocket fuel, good for the return trip, or for going out further. That's rocket fuel that doesn't have to be carried up from Earth by...more rocket fuel. Also, the oxygen supply for lunar bases could come from local sources, until we get the Greenhouses going. There's always a need for spare oxygen.