
The Silicon Valley Heavyweights Who Want to Settle the Moon - spking
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-05/the-silicon-valley-heavyweights-who-want-to-settle-the-moon
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cjlars
Though now forgotten, much of the early european settlements in the Americas
came from a sort of proto venture capital. Both Jamestown and the Mayflower
for example, were private ventures with the intent of turning a profit. Of
course many details remain to be filled in. While they sought gold, it's not
clear that any riches will be found on the moon.

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aussiegreenie
Please, please, please go as fast as possible.

The quicker we get rid of the "tech bros" the better the world will be.

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avmich
They once tried to get rid of a certain PayPal mafia member. He decided to
foolishly burn the cash on building rockets; everybody knows how sure this way
is to part with funds. Guess he lost the last money and nobody can remember
his name anymore. At least the world can breathe with relief :) .

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Ancalagon
> "The picture that emerged out of those meetings was that you could create a
> permanent, economically self-sustaining presence on the moon that could be
> done for the single-digit billions," said Steve Jurvetson, a venture
> capitalist, who provided the initial Open Lunar funding.

Exactly how will this be economically self-sustaining? I don't think the stuff
of moon-rocks is particularly valuable, other than to collectors and
scientists. Presumable a moon colony would have difficulty just creating
enough food for its populace, so I can't imagine it would have the capability
to become self-sustaining. Maybe everyone becomes remote software engineers
working for companies on Earth, and those companies send supplies in return?

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avmich
Nobody (*) can imagine the vast market of construction materials and rocket
fuel in refueling station on Earth orbit. That is, until some enterprising
souls would invest and create some, and rise the hype enough to start building
satellites and stations which would take advantage of that - after all, fuel
and construction materials are the biggest parts by mass, and mass lifted from
Earth costs pretty penny. The trick with pioneers is that they carry oxygen
from the Moon, as well as titanium and aluminum - and that's the killer
feature, allowing to drop prices safely below the abilities of Earth-based
enterprises. Of course the profits are in part reinvested into growing the
Moon base - which would be better called Moon settlement then.

