What’s Next for the Moon

upstart writes:

Robots-and then humans-are going back to the lunar surface. Here's what they'll be doing:

We're going back to the moon. And back. And back. And back again.

It's been more than 50 years since humans last walked on the lunar surface, but starting this year, an array of missions from private companies and national space agencies plan to take us back, sending everything from small robotic probes to full-fledged human landers.

The ultimate goal? Getting humans living and working on the moon, and then using it as a way station for possible later missions into deep space.

More than a dozen robotic vehicles are scheduled to land on the moon in the 2020s.

[...] These private companies are backed by millions of dollars in government money, driven by NASA's desire to return humans to the moon as part of its Artemis program. NASA wants to expand commercial moon activity in the same way it has helped fund commercial activity in Earth orbit with companies such as SpaceX.

"The goal is we return to the moon, open up a lunar economy, and continue exploring to Mars," says Nujoud Merancy, chief of NASA's Exploration Mission Planning Office at the Johnson Space Center in Texa. The ultimate plan, Merancy says, is to foster a "permanent settlement on the moon."

Not all are convinced, especially when it comes to how companies will make money on lunar missions outside of funding from NASA. "What is the GDP of lunar activities?" says Sinead O'Sullivan, a former senior researcher at Harvard Business School's Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness. "Some commercial economy may evolve, but it's kind of hard to tell."

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