Earth-Moon Network = Maturing Space Industries

> How do you propose to make money?

This is the ONLY question currently lacking an appropriate answer. All
of the technical issues have answers. We may not like some of the
answers, but they are out there.

Answering this question defines how we select "acceptable" answers to
ALL of the technical questions.

>
> The ability to make money in space is a foregone conclusion. It CAN be
> immensely profitable.
>
> "Can be" is only the same as "Will be" if the person with the idea can
get
> it off the ground before the next guy. I.e. Bill Gates, Steve Bezos,
> Christopher Columbus, etc. All of these guys turned an idea in to a
> business venture and made it succeed, sometimes by accidentally
stumbling on
> a better way and not even knowing about it.

Bill Gates is the perfect example of what we are waiting for. He and
his friends saw in the development of the personal computer an
opportunity to make LOTS of money by selling the operating system. They
did not create the computer.

How can we take what is available today in space technology and use it
to make money?

Hint: I don't believe NASA or any other government agency can answer
this question.

I try to think about the following:

1) How SMALL a tool can we send into space and control from the ground?
What can we make with that tool? Can we make the tools that make the
tools that eventually create/assemble products we can sell? Must we
wait for nanotechnology? Must we wait for advanced robotics? What can
we do with TODAY's technology?

2) Can we fit our "tool" into any currently available commercial launch
system such as Orbital Science's "Pegasus" or Boeing's Sea Launch?
Using the "tool" requires a communications infrastructure. Can we
rent/lease that or must we launch it?

3) Where do we put our "tool" to maximize production? Does it convert
lunar materials into something valuable? Does it convert asteroidal
material into something valuable? Does it just sit in LEO and convert
sunlight into something useful? I don't much like this last one. I
want to put a tool into a resource-rich environment like the moon or a
NEO and build more tools, expand capability, increase production and
reduce cost per unit of product. That's a "want" though, and may not be
the right answer for a first generation "tool."

4) How do we deliver our products to market? If it is information, just
beam it to receivers on Earth or in LEO or GEO. If it is a physical
product some sort of transportation will be required. Is there any way
to just "drop" it and let some sort of recovery crew "catch" it
dirtside? Will some sort of aerodynamic return vehicle be needed?

As you can tell, I am impatient with the idea of sending research
instruments into space. Our ancestors came to the Americas with
blacksmith tools, glassworking tools and all sorts of "industry starter"
equipment. We have done a little of that on ISS and MIR but I am not
aware of any business that has yet setup shop in orbit or on the moon.
There might be some firms that have made money from the results of
experiments. Microspheres and microgravity alloys come to mind.

Sure hope we see some more of that soon. That would begin to answer the
fundamental question.

What can we do in space to make money on Earth?

Colin Keizer