With the success of the Chandrayaan-3 this August, India became the fourth country to land a spacecraft on the moon. Improved fabrication methods like 3D printing, plus larger-scale production of essential materials for remote activity, have made space technology cheaper than ever to build. Even conservative investors are financing ventures, thanks to the moon economy’s estimated $100 billion near-term market value. Many of the planned endeavors are exploratory in nature, but they could pave the way for the eventual commercialization of the moon—namely, establishing permanent bases and mining lunar water and regolith (lunar soil).
