The first three levels of this series dealt with access to orbit, the operation of orbital infrastructure and the resulting data and communication systems. Lunar Infrastructure goes one step further.
There is still hardly any economic activity there. This is precisely why I find this area exciting. Many of the necessary building blocks are known, but the infrastructure is almost completely lacking.
Should a permanent economic presence develop beyond the Earth's orbit in the coming decades, new bottlenecks will arise practically from scratch. These include, among others:
- Energy supply - Electricity will become a basic requirement for any activity on the moon and space stations
- Nuclear systems - compact Compact reactors for permanent energy supply in extreme environments
- Communication networks - Data links between Earth, Moon and orbital infrastructure
- Navigation and positioning - GPS does not exist on the moon
- Resource extraction - Using water, oxygen and raw materials directly on site
- Robotics and autonomous systems - Maintenance and operation without permanent human presence
- Transportation and logistics systems - Supply of lunar and orbital sites
- In-Situ Manufacturing - Production directly outside the earth (advantage: no gravity)
- New space stations - Research, industrial and logistics platforms in orbit
- Computing power and data processing - Local processing of large amounts of data in space
I find it particularly interesting that many of these future bottlenecks are already recognizable today. Some of the actual business models do not even exist yet. The infrastructure problems, on the other hand, are already becoming apparent. Investment in this area has so far been limited.
$LUNR (+11,08%) (Intuitive Machines) is working on central building blocks for a future lunar infrastructure. $FLY (+15,49%) (Firefly Aerospace) is increasingly expanding its activities in the direction of lunar services. $RDW (Redwire) is developing technologies for space stations and industrial applications in orbit. $VOYG (+13,12%) (Voyager Technologies) is working on commercial space station projects (Starlab) as a possible successor to today's government infrastructure. $OHB (-6,39%) (OHB) builds satellite and space systems that could also become relevant for more distant missions in the long term.
Companies outside the traditional space sector could also play a role in the future. If nuclear energy supplies on the moon or space stations become a reality, suppliers of compact reactor systems, e.g. $OKLO (Oklo) will come more into focus. The same applies to robotics, communication and automation technologies.
Many of these ideas still seem a long way off today. However, this applies to almost any infrastructure before it is actually built. Perhaps the next major infrastructure zone will not be built on Earth, but a few hundred thousand kilometers away.
