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Artemis II reignites deep-space travel. Will it also boost a lunar economy?

The crew of Artemis II set a record Monday for the farthest distance humans have traveled from Earth, as the spacecraft swung around the far side of the moon.

Shortly after traveling 248,656 miles away from Earth, breaking the record set by Apollo 13 in 1970, Artemis mission specialist Jeremy Hansen said he and his crewmates 鈥渃hoose this moment to challenge this generation and the next to make sure this record is not long-lived.鈥�

NASA and its partners in the commercial U.S. space industry are counting on the Artemis mission to break records and garner enough popular support to help usher in a new era of space exploration, one that is fueled by a thriving space economy.

To accomplish that goal, NASA is testing a strategy of relying more heavily on public-private partnerships. For Artemis II, that has meant partnering with traditional contractors like Lockheed Martin and Boeing. For future Artemis missions, partnerships are to include SpaceX and Blue Origin and other newcomers, like Firefly Aerospace, a Texas-based private space company that successfully landed a spacecraft on the lunar surface in March 2025.

Where once only governments could afford the eye-watering sums associated with reaching outer space, private companies like SpaceX have helped turn rocket launches into a (relatively) cheap, profitable business. Meanwhile, companies like Firefly are designing rovers and landers for NASA 鈥� and other customers 鈥� to explore the lunar surface and help build a permanent lunar outpost in the near future.

Firefly Aerospace is one of thousands of private space companies that now make up the commercial space industry. As of 2021, there were over 10,000 companies in the industry, Forbes , with a total value in excess of $4 trillion.

NASA is hoping that the future of space exploration is built on public-private partnerships with several of these companies.

The Artemis program, which will involve partnerships with multiple private companies in future missions, is a glimpse into that future. However, while the commercial space sector has certainly grown, it is not as big or as profitable as NASA officials hoped it would be by this point. The lunar economy could be worth around $170 billion over the next two decades, according to a 2021 analysis by PricewaterhouseCoopers. But as it stands today, there are some hard economic realities, like lack of current profitability, standing between private industry and that kind of lucrative space economy, according to experts.

Still, there is excitement 鈥� particularly following NASA鈥檚 announcement in late March of a new plan to gradually build a permanent base on the moon, starting with returning humans to the lunar surface in 2028 with Artemis IV. The landing spacecraft for that mission are being built by private companies.

When the Blue Ghost touched down last year, 鈥渋t felt like starting something new,鈥� said Kevin Scholtes, a future systems architect at Firefly Aerospace, in an interview on Monday.

鈥淚t felt like we were getting the tremendous privilege, with a lot of help from NASA, to start a new chapter in space exploration.鈥�

Successes, and warning signs

The government paving the way for private industry to turn a profit has happened previously. The most apt comparison might be the settlement of the American West, which the government facilitated through friendly contracts with railroad companies.

A similar trend has happened in low Earth orbit. During the Apollo era in the 1960s and 鈥�70s, only NASA (or put another way, taxpayers) could pay the cost of entry into space. Private companies 鈥� led by billionaire Elon Musk鈥檚 SpaceX 鈥� have helped slash the cost of launches by through developing reusable rockets and lighter payloads.

Now, private rocket launches into low Earth orbit are routine. But these launches often serve one purpose: to deploy new communications satellites into orbit.

鈥淣ow we鈥檙e incredibly dependent on鈥� satellite communication, says Angel Abbud-Madrid, director of the Center for Space Resources at the Colorado School of Mines.

But if the space economy is going to be worth trillions of dollars in the future, he adds, 鈥測ou鈥檙e going to have to get more鈥� revenue streams.

Other ventures once seen as building blocks for a space economy have fallen flat. The market for space tourism, for example, seems to聽 amid high costs and a lack of demand.

At an event in late March announcing the agency鈥檚 pivot to focusing on a moon base, NASA officials bemoaned the slow progress of private efforts to create a commercial space station in low Earth orbit. (The agency has been planning to decommission the International Space Station by 2030.)

鈥淭his is a real challenge; this is a real problem,鈥� said Amit Kshatriya, NASA associate administrator, at the event, a week before the Artemis II launch.

鈥淗aving our presence in [low Earth orbit] is a national imperative,鈥� he added. But 鈥渢he current industry that we have that鈥檚 proposing to build destinations does not have the direct experience with that, or the resources, to go do it.鈥�

Mining the moon

The economic viability of commercial operations in cislunar space 鈥� meaning the region extending from Earth鈥檚 atmosphere to the lunar surface and beyond 鈥� might be even more remote. For one, the moon is 100 times farther away from our planet than low Earth orbit. Secondly, as of right now there is no profit to be found.

Surveys have found potentially useful resources on the lunar surface. Rare earth elements, used to power many modern devices, have been found on the moon. So has helium-3, an isotope that could be used in nuclear fusion, cryogenics, and quantum computing. Extremely rare on Earth, helium-3 has been scattered across the moon by solar winds for billions of years.

Potentially the most valuable lunar resource is water ice, a resource that is chemically different from ice on Earth and could be vital for human missions and settlements. Found mostly on the lunar south pole, in permanently shadowed craters, the deposits could (in theory) be turned into rocket propellant and oxygen for breathing. Finding a way to efficiently mine and process this lunar ice could (in theory) turn the moon into a self-sustaining gas station for deep-space exploration.

鈥淵ou can then start lowering the transportation costs,鈥� says Dr. Abbud-Madrid. 鈥淭hen you start opening up cislunar space.鈥�

But if that is to become reality, a lot of science has to happen first, experts say 鈥� science such as what Artemis II conducted with its lunar flyby Monday, when the crew became the first humans to directly view some areas of the far side of the moon in daylight. The crew spent the roughly seven-hour flyby photographing and cataloging features of the surface in detail. They had 35 targets for 10 science objectives, including identifying potential future landing sites.

鈥淲e need more scientific characterizations of the moon,鈥� says Scott Pace, director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University. 鈥淭here鈥檚 water on the moon, but that鈥檚 like saying, 鈥楾here鈥檚 gold in the West.鈥欌��

Several private companies are gearing up for a gold rush. Three companies 鈥� Interlune, Black Moon Energy, and Magna Petra 鈥� are focused on helium-3 mining. Colorado-based Lunar Outpost is building vehicles it says could support the construction and operation of a permanent lunar base.

Conversations and 鈥渇riendly鈥� competition

While these possible ventures have major financial question marks around them, there are also legal, environmental, and even moral consequences, analysts say.

For example, what would be the rules for a lunar economy? The Outer Space Treaty of 1967 says the moon cannot be taken over by any nation, but it doesn鈥檛 explicitly ban mining of its resources. The Artemis Accords 鈥� a U.S.-led guidance on 鈥渂est practices鈥� for 鈥渢he civil exploration and use of outer space,鈥� signed by 61 nations 鈥� affirms that resource extraction in outer space is lawful, provided certain conditions are met.

China and Russia, which are planning to build a permanent base together at the moon鈥檚 south pole, are not signatories to the Artemis Accords.

This doesn鈥檛 mean a lunar turf war is inevitable, experts say. The International Space Station has proved that foreign governments can collaborate in space despite tensions on Earth, but a space station is very different from a planetary body with potentially lucrative resources.

鈥淚f everyone wants to go [to the south pole] and everyone wants to have a base there, there鈥檚 going to have to be some conversation,鈥� says Dr. Abbud-Madrid.

鈥淎nd this is a good time to do it,鈥� he adds. 鈥淎ll of these things have to be addressed before we start on a massive scale.鈥�

In the meantime, Artemis II has begun its journey back to Earth. The crew is scheduled to splash down off the coast of San Diego on Friday.

2026 is also scheduled to be a busy year for commercial moon shots. Three companies 鈥� in partnership with NASA 鈥� are scheduled to land scientific payloads on the lunar surface, including a second Blue Ghost mission by Firefly Aerospace.

Mr. Scholtes describes the competition between all these companies as 鈥渁 friendly rivalry.鈥�

鈥淲e compete over the same contracts; we compete over the same missions,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut ultimately, we鈥檙e in the same industry.鈥�

鈥淎ll ships are going to rise and sink with the tide,鈥� he adds. 鈥淲e love it when our competitors succeed because it means more opportunity for everyone.鈥�