The Moon Is Not a Science Project Anymore. It’s a Market.
As the Artemis 2 successfully loops around the moon and heads back to earth, it is time to consider the not-too-distant future when the moon shifts to a platform for commerce and tourism. In emerging industries, perception forms before facts stabilize—and whoever speaks first defines the rules everyone else must follow. To position your enterprise as a leader, the time to start discussing this in public is now.
Return to the Moon and Stay
For decades, the idea of a permanent human presence on the moon belonged to science fiction—an imaginative backdrop for astronauts, not entrepreneurs. That distinction is over. With NASA’s Artemis program advancing toward sustained lunar operations, the conversation shifts from whether we return to the moon to what happens once we stay. Infrastructure is planned. Habitats are tested. Supply chains—however fragile—are being imagined into existence.
And if history is any guide, the next phase will not be led by scientists. It will be led by business. This is not conjecture. It is recognition of current plans by the government and private business to ensure that the United States is in the best position possible to leverage the moon for security and trade. But, there is a missing link between discovery, exploration and business. The risk is that lunar commercialization isn’t being discussed nearly enough by business leaders.
It is understandable given that most business leaders are paid to deliver products and services, not talk to reporters. Given a choice, and senior people always have a choice, they will do most anything before talking with reporters.
Fear of Speaking Out
Articles and features invite scrutiny by others inside their respective organizations who are too happy to point out anything said incorrectly, inarticulately or that is even a little controversial. Speaking in public in any venue or occasion is frightening to most everyone. Public speaking—one of the most common fears, tied to social anxiety—becomes even more daunting when representing a company. Why? It invites scrutiny. So, the responsibility to speak on behalf of your employer and by extension the shareholders, co-workers and family can feel overwhelming because it involves judgment, status, and potential embarrassment.
All this said, it is still the case that most companies preparing for this future are overinvesting in engineering—and underinvesting in explaining it. That imbalance has consequences. Because in complex, high-visibility industries, the failure to communicate clearly is not optional. Commerce invites skepticism because the news media tends to prioritize negative outcomes. Fires, explosions, injuries and OSHA violations will always get covered, even in the business and trade media. It accelerates scrutiny. And it allows others to define the narrative first.
Houston’s industrial history offers a clear lesson: technical excellence does not guarantee public acceptance. In fact, it often demands it. The responsibility to ‘sell’ this is part of the landscape in the greater Houston area for manufacturers of any size. Don’t believe me?
Ask any pharmaceutical manufacturer, oil refiner or petrochemical plant operator. Most, if not all, operating with the latest technology and best practices in place will garner public and media scrutiny if not downright opposition. This regardless of the amount of tax revenue, and good jobs that require a good amount of technical skill and education to perform. Space will be no different. Without aggressive communication between audiences and the private sector, it will be harder than it needs to be when looking for public buy in. In industries this complex, communications is not a support function. It is part of the operating model.
A History of Commerce and Transportation
The transcontinental railroad didn’t just connect coasts—it created entire economies along its path. The interstate highway system didn’t simply move cars—it gave rise to motels, fast food chains, logistics empires, and roadside retail. Stuckey’s gives way to Buc-ees.The moon will be no different.
The internet was not commercialized by the government that helped invent it, but by private actors who saw opportunity where others saw utility. Infrastructure always invites commerce. Railroads, roads, airports and coming soon space ports that will take people, know-how and ideas to a place where some will certainly fail, and others will deliver success beyond the dreams of avarice.
NASA in cooperation with its partners from private business will do what governments do best: absorb early risk, develop foundational systems, pioneer technology and establish a presence. But once those systems stabilize—even marginally—private enterprise will move in with speed and imagination. While the private sector does not have the resources of the public it has the advantage of speed and the need to make a profit, or, abandon what does not work and keep looking for what does.
Not cautiously. Aggressively. The first wave of successful business will be predictable: aerospace contractors expanding their footprint, communications firms building lunar networks, energy companies experimenting with power generation and storage in extreme environments. The second wave will be where things get interesting.
Mining. Hospitality. Branding. Licensing. Media. Experience-based services. It sounds absurd—until it doesn’t. A hotel on the moon once felt like fantasy. Today, companies are already selling tickets and taking passengers for suborbital spaceflight. A generation from now, the idea of a corporate-sponsored research habitat or a privately operated lunar outpost won’t feel novel but will be routine.
Even the more outlandish concepts—a golf course under a pressurized dome, a branded entertainment complex, casinos, theaters, hospitals with unique, low gravity therapies—follow a familiar trajectory from the unheard of to imagined and then reality. Entrepreneurs rarely wait for everything to be perfect before they launch their into the commercial space. They emerge when access becomes possible. Access to the moon is no longer theoretical, but attainable in the next decade or two.
Governance and Rule of Law
In the meantime, there are serious questions to resolve. Governance. Property rights. Environmental considerations. The role of international treaties and local law. The balance between public good and private gain will be sorted out in due time. Country ownership and declarations of claims on some, or even all the moon, could lead to conflict here on earth. If the history of North America is any indication, there will be wars fought over national claims of sovereignty.
History suggests conflict is more likely than consensus. Preparing for the likelihood of conflicts should be part of any business plan. (NOTE: The Apple television show ‘For All Mankind’ portrays an alternate history of the space race where the Soviets reach the moon first. Spoiler alert, gunfire is exchanged between the Soviets and Americans in a dispute over mineral rights).
But none of these questions will prevent commercialization. They will shape it. The French, Spanish, Dutch, English, native people and later Americans fought each other over everything from beaver pelts to fishing and navigation. So, expect it, and plan for it. As the real inflection point will come quietly with the first viable business model on the moon that proves money can be made, not just spent, beyond Earth.
As the ‘For All Mankind’ program portrays, when that happens, the timeline compresses. Investment accelerates. Competition intensifies. And what once felt like the edge of human exploration begins to look like the next frontier of economic development. Those who profit then will be the ones doing the preparation work now.
The first American flags planted on the moon were about national pride and scientific achievement. Some even see the Apollo project as more of a publicity stunt to defeat the Soviets than advancing civilization. It did both. And since Americans already know the way, have the technology and hardware to repeat their achievements from the 1960’s and early ‘70’s on a much grander scale, expect them (us) to dominate once more. There is no substitute for being first and then being first again. After that, profit and market share.
Media-Public-Relations is a specialty agency with a focus on media relations and crisis media and crisis preparation and management. Owned and operated by Harold Nicoll, it is located in the Greater Houston area. Contact Harold at (443) 987-0195.