NASA is preparing to buy the foundations of a moon base from the private sector, expanding a commercial delivery program intended to put equipment on the lunar surface before astronauts arrive. SpaceX, Blue Origin, and six other aerospace firms will be eligible to compete for contracts worth up to $10 billion over ten years. That figure caps future orders and is not an award divided among the companies.

The agency separately awarded Blue Origin a $94 million base contract to deliver its PROMISE rover, with another $140 million available through a performance option. Targeting launch in late 2028, the mission would investigate the lunar south pole, including areas believed to contain water ice. Other awards cover cargo transportation, navigation, power, and communications. SpaceX will demonstrate satellite deployment between Earth and the Moon.

Together, the projects represent a transformation toward assembling infrastructure through purchases of commercial services, with sustained lunar operations intended to support eventual missions to Mars.

A permanent lunar base becomes increasingly economical if each mission can draw on resources already there. Water extracted from lunar ice could support astronauts and, with further processing, supply oxygen and rocket propellant. Shared power and communications systems would reduce the need to send fresh equipment with every landing, spreading their expense across successive missions…

Just a few years ago, they laughed at him…

And said that what Elon was planning to do was impossible.

In 2018, the New York Post even called Elon “a total fraud”... 

But I just caught his new technology on camera (click here to see it)...

And it proves the media was 100% wrong about Elon.

NASA’s view will depend on a steady flow of customers, and it is helping build the infrastructure before much of that demand exists. This leaves taxpayers to support the market while private customers decide whether to enter it. Contractors themselves stand to earn healthy returns without the pressure of needing to establish a business that can survive beyond government orders.

Therefore, competition is integral to the bargain. Multiple suppliers provide NASA alternatives when prices rise or missions fail. Yet eligibility to bid is no guarantee that several companies will develop reliable, economical services. A small group of indispensable providers could eventually acquire considerable leverage over the agency.

The contracting ceiling also leaves a funding question unresolved, since future orders require money and a decade of planned operations must survive changing congressional priorities. Companies need sufficient confidence to invest; taxpayers need protection against commitments that become expensive to abandon.

Americans are being asked to finance a foothold on the Moon before anyone knows how valuable that foothold will become. The return doesn’t necessarily need to arrive as mining revenue or cheaper consumer products, as scientific knowledge and the ability to operate beyond Earth have public value, even when no private customer will pay for them.

Congress can justify paying for exploration without pretending that a profitable lunar market is imminent. Scientific missions and commercial ventures serve different purposes, and taxpayers deserve to know which they are financing.

Lunar research could yield discoveries that private companies would never finance, though the benefits are likely to take decades to emerge. As the base develops, Congress will face tough decisions about how much to commit and what further missions offer in return. Reaching the Moon is a technical challenge; deciding what presence America can afford to sustain will remain an economic one.