FUNDING
- how will we pay for space development and settlement? -




  The Five Phases There are five phases of lunar development and a clear approach to funding each phase.
 
  Lunar COTS Public-private programs have been shown to be very cost-effective. We should repeat this approach with lunar return.
 
  International LCOTS The United States should encourage other countries to develop redundant, dissimilar, competing transport and surface systems.
 
  Reducing Expenses Through harvesting local resources and recycling, shipping costs can be dramatically reduced making settlement more feasible.
 
  Revenue There are a number of revenue streams that can be imagined as a permanent base is first established.
 
  International Exploration The per-seat price of an end-to-end commercial transport system could allow many nations to purchase commercial transport.
 
  SpaceX Revenue from launches, their Starlink constellation, and ticket sales to passengers will provide SpaceX their necessary income.
 
  Self-reliance Full Self-reliance (FSR) can be achieved on a small scale. But the funding for this would need to be philanthropic.
 
  Settlement One's life savings will be the primary source of funding for initial settlement.
 
  Commercial LEO There are many signs that a commercial space station in low Earth orbit will be a long-term drain on NASA's budget.
 
  Moon-Mars Analogue Base To develop of a new type of analogue base, full philanthropic funding is being sought.
 

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