NASA wants to return to the Moon, but their plans this time go far beyond just taking a stroll on its surface. With the Artemis missions, the space agency aims to establish human settlements and lay the groundwork for extraplanetary colonization.
However, NASA doesn’t intend to undertake this task alone, and for this, they are collaborating with private companies to achieve their goals.
As reported by Business Insider, NASA is partnering with private companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin, Nokia, Lockheed Martin, and General Motors to develop various solutions for their lunar missions, including spacewalks, lunar live streams, creating a lunar GPS, and much more.
These collaborations open significant commercial opportunities not only on the Moon but also on other planets like Mars. For instance, one of the major interests in “visiting” the Moon is to extract regolith (the scientific term for lunar dust) in order to obtain Helium-3, a rare non-radioactive particle that could be used in fusion reactors or for construction on the Moon.
Yes, it’s still a long way before humans settle on the Moon and begin large-scale mining activities, but funding is already in progress for these future projects, both on the Moon and for the next destinations in the galaxy that we may venture to.
According to Prachi Kawade, an analyst specializing in the space market, commercial opportunities in space for the next 10 years are currently valued at around $137 billion.
This would also pave the way for private companies from other sectors, such as entertainment, to take the “space leap” once lunar colonies are established.
Will we ever witness an amusement park on the Moon, much like in Futurama? Could we visit a burger joint and savor a lunar-made burger while gazing at our own planet? For now, it’s a dream we can only imagine.
Some of the links added in the article are part of affiliate campaigns and may represent benefits for Softonic.
