Abstract :
It remains highly unlikely that any government or group of governments will make the long-term funding commitments necessary to return to the Moon to establish a lunar base in support of scientific goals or resource production. If this premise is correct, and a lunar base is to be established within the foreseeable future, it will be in support of commercial production and use of the unique energy resources contained in the lunar regolith. Such a commercially led initiative and human access to the benefits of a return to the Moon wold benefit from a governmental research and technology initiative modeled after that which supported the advancement of aeronautical technology in the 20th Century. The known components of the regolith that have commercial potential are: (1) silicon containing components that can be converted into solar photovoltaic cells and (2) solar wind Helium-3 that can fuel fusion power plants. As by-products, hydrogen, water and oxygen will have commercial value for use in space. If the capital infrastructure for lunar operations comes into existence independent of lunar energy options, including the potential for polar operations, hydrogen, water and oxygen will have commercial value
