Besides, what is really needed is automation.

The Teslabot may wind up of greater utility than Starship even if the latter can be made to work.

Space funding is uncertain–be it public or private. Folks get entirely distracted with where funds come from.

A good, self-replicating system that can remain in operation should be the goal.

Then even if NASA and SpaceX both went under, America still gets a Moonbase and all you need is a ride to get you there.

Freitas wrote about such a SRS…before we had widespread 3D printing.

How nice it would be to see a Moonbase build itself–with Greens on the left and moon-hoax-believers powerless to stop it. No more stroking egos of politicians or vulture capitalists.

And from China’s perspective–they could spawn all kinds of Frankensteinian abominations with a biotech base that would make Weyland Yutani look like boy scouts.

My whole point is where need a large aerospace industry of MANY companies with MANY ideas and MANY products of all kinds, competing with each other for profit. Starship and Blue Moon are merely a start.

And I agree: We *are* going to need all of that for a long-term sustained presence on the Moon.

But my point was more limited:

1. Starship and even Blue Moon will have the *lift capacity* and operation at scale to bring what is needed for a base (or bases). What that capacity would be lifting is another story!

2. But even in the short term, Starship HLS is supposed to have up to 1100 cubic meters of pressurized volume. That’s actually more than the ISS has, and more than the LESA base that NASA was looking at for Apollo Applications. A single Starship HLS could effectively function as a (small) base, if you really wanted to.

(Now, is that desirable? A discussion worth having! But I am merely pointing out raw capabilities.)

I admit, I’m in a bit of a hurry. I’d like to see these things happen whilst I am still among the living — even if that means having it happen with NASA playing a somewhat larger role than I might prefer. But I’m selfish that way.

Meanwhile, NASA can show the world what commercial space stations can do as the agency rents them for a few months at a time. Unfortunately, the Gateway lunar space station does not seem to be designed for any purpose other than a way-station for voyages to the Moon, so if the commercial space companies bypass it, then Gateway has no clear use.

Sorry, Jeff Wright, but the problem with SLS is its inefficiency. That is why so many other launch vehicles are doing so much better than SLS, and why it is not a real part of the lunar equation. Or any equation, for that matter.

About a decade ago, I saw this decade, the 2020s, as potentially being exciting, with the prospect of Bigelow commercial space stations kept busy by commercial spacecraft, lunar landings, both manned and unmanned, and maybe even a dragon voyage to Mars (unmanned lander, manned flyby and return to Earth). Similar things are happening, but somewhat later than I had expected. Next decade, the 2030s, should be even more exciting, with manned missions to Mars, with the intent of colonization — an even better plan than Mars One.

NASA needs to keep on the ball if it is going to keep up with the commercial space community. SpaceX already has plans for a manned Mars and is building hardware not only to get there but to colonize the planet. They are way ahead of NASA in this way. Blue Origin has shown an interest in lunar landers for half a decade, when it unveiled its Blue Moon idea. NASA, meanwhile, is still getting over the malaise that Obama put it in when he set it adrift with no meaningful missions.

Richard M wrote, “You sure could build a base using Starship or Blue Moon/New Glenn, though….”

I don’t agree. Two companies with lunar landers ain’t enough. My whole point is where need a large aerospace industry of MANY companies with MANY ideas and MANY products of all kinds, competing with each other for profit. Starship and Blue Moon are merely a start.

Only when a nation has such an industry will it be capable of building a colony on another world. And it won’t be the government doing it.

It appears reality has finally set in at China’s space agency. China might land humans on the Moon by 2030, but getting a manned lunar base established will not be so easy, and will likely not occur any sooner than the 2040s, if then.

Yes, if they want to build a base of even the smallest sort on the Moon, they are going to need an architecture considerably more robust than the updated Apollo counterpart they are currently developing.

You sure could build a base using Starship or Blue Moon/New Glenn, though….