Interplanetary Settlement and In Situ Exploration

Abstract

Since the last Apollo 17 mission in 1972, interplanetary human spaceflight has been on hold due to various political and budgetary reasons. Even at the time of Apollo, it was a struggle to justify the direct financial return on investment, and politicians were unable to sustain the lunar exploration missions. Nevertheless, the global impact of the Apollo missions has never been forgotten. Many questions are asked today in this connection: Why has humanity not returned to the Moon? Why has a permanent human outpost not been constructed on the Moon? How can NewSpace companies contribute to taking humans to the Moon? Why has humanity waited for so long to exploit resources on the Moon and on asteroids or other near-Earth objects (NEO)? More questions sprang up in connection with Mars research: Is a future human spaceflight to Mars feasible? How can private initiatives and existing commercial space transportation vehicles contribute to Moon and Mars settlement bases? What are the economic benefits from exploiting in situ space-based resources?