Who Would Pay for a Settlement
If a permanent settlement costs billions of dollars a year, who could pay for it, and in what form?
Chapter summary
Governments, for at least the next two decades.
Key takeaways
- 1
The realistic model is a public base with private tenants, as in Antarctica or on the ISS: agencies pay for core infrastructure and crews and buy services from companies, while companies, foreign agencies, universities and wealthy individuals rent capacity.
- 2
Private money can build specific assets (landers, power plants, habitats) under long-term service contracts, but no private revenue on the Moon today can sustain a settlement.
- 3
Setcoin's estimate is that by the 2040s a research town of 20–50 people would cost $8–20 billion a year, of which governments would pay 70–90%.
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