Dear Friends,
It seems to me, the most valuable piece of real estate in the solar system today, is the south pole of the Moon. Humanity is going into space, there is far too much opportunity there to ignore, and so the people who get to the most valuable places first, will get rich. How can we tell which will be the most valuable places, by the readily accessible access to the basics, water, solar energy, minerals and cover, in that order. Whomever gets to those resources and learns to exploit them, will become very wealthy, as well as have the ability to effect the course of humanity for centuries. To that end, the south pole of the Moon is perfect, as it has been proven there is ice frozen at the bottom of the largest crater there, and the rim has access to the sun all day every day. Of course, since there are abundant valuable natural resources there, whomever gets there first will either be obliged to defend it, else cede it to those willing to fight for it.
Unless we destroy ourselves, our children and grandchildren will be the first generation to really go into and colonize space. Literally unlimited natural resources are out there. There would be no need to limit the human population, due to some limit of an ecosystem, dreamed up by someone who calls himself a scientist? In fact it would behoove us to increase our rate of population growth. Imagine a society where everyone had all their needs met, in spades, because the old paradigm of perpetual shortages is replaced with one of perpetual gluts? In such a society most people would rot in their own lazy skin, but there would be many who would create, invent and build. Moreover, not only a privileged class could invent, but anyone with a mind to. Space, coupled with robotics, opens up that possibility to humanity.
If we accept then as a premise, people will go into space, then there is a huge opportunity to make money. Looking at past episodes of natural resource exploitation, we see that while huge gobs of money is made by those prospecting and working a claim, the real money is for the guys who sell the equipment to prospect and work a claim. In space, instead of Levi pants, canned beans and pans, they will need air, water, and the means of production. The first one there gets to set up shop but timing is everything. You don’t want to get there too quick, if someone had got to the gold fields of California ten years too early, and set up a store, they would probably have gone out of business long before the gold rush was on.
The next thing mankind has to do in our expansion into space is to build a Moon base. Building a Mars base is way too soon. A Moon base would have several advantages that make it a far better candidate. First, we can get to it in a matter of days, if the infrastructure is in place, which means people there who get in trouble can be rescued within a week. Making it far more survivable in an emergency. Rest assured, until the technology is honed there will be emergencies. Those emergencies on the Moon will be a learning experience but on Mars would be catastrophes. The cost will be exponentially less for exponentially more of everything, science, engineering, lunar habitation ecosystems, exploitable resources, etc…. Once the bugs have been ironed out on the Moon Mars would be a logical next step. Since the Moon is logically our next step, I say, grab the high ground.
The guy who went into the wild country, settled it and made way for the gold rush got rich, who’s land do you think they panned for gold? On the Moon, initially, the gold will be water. Once access to water, and therefore air has been established, and the market for it has reached equilibrium, other minerals and gasses will become the primary incentive for expansion. There may be water other places on the Moon, at the north pole, encased in regolith that has been covered over by basalt, comets embedded under the surface, etc… but there is only one known reserve, the south pole. That will be the maker of fortunes for some, and the misfortune of others, if the timing isn’t right.
If we want that expansion into space to benefit humanity the most, then we should be looking to create conditions where expansion, innovation and access to ownership of the means of production are paramount. Ideally there would be some compartmentalization of the various businesses of space travel. The companies that lift mass from Earth would compete against each other, but not with companies that prospect for resources, and those companies that created and maintain living quarters wouldn’t compete with firms that process water, as a passive way to prevent monopolies from forming. Even with that measure anti monopoly law would have to be powerful and strongly enforced. Under the free enterprise approach to the utilization of space resources, a new era of economic growth lifting all boats will be ushered in, even boats in the poorest of places.
Sadly, people are people and there is the very real possibility someone with an imperial mindset could get there first. They will be the ones who land and immediately start building fortifications, carrying guns, and answering only to a political power. The very best way to exploit the resources including water, of the Moon, is to negotiate and enforce a treaty, that any resource is owned only if there are people there, who found it… are utilizing it, their profits, places they build and their persons are free and sovereign, (they own them free and clear). That would encourage entrepreneurs to start a wave of economic expansion like the world has never seen. However, wherever there is huge profit to be made, first, people vie intellectually for it, then by subterfuge and finally, by violence. Since water will be such an important first resource, the way humanity treats it, will be a prediction of how the other resources will be exploited.
That, is what makes the south pole of the Moon, the most valuable piece of real estate in the solar system right now.
Sincerely
John Pepin
