The 21st Century Lunar Gold Rush

During the 'Apollo' program, astronauts brought back 382kg of lunar rocks. They became the official property of the U.S. government, meaning that sale of the rocks in any form is strictly forbidden. However, the U.S. gave some away as gifts to other countries and state governors. Following a series of gifts, theft and misplacements, some of these rocks found their way into the marketplace, with US$4.28 million the sale price per gram this January at world-famous auction house Sotheby's.

Second – US$250 million. This is the estimated price of a private lunar circumnavigation with SpaceX.

People may remember that in September last year, SpaceX announced Yusaku, founder of a Japanese online fashion retail website, as its first customer of private lunar circumnavigation. In an interview, Musk and Yusaku revealed that Yusaku's contribution to Musk's rockets equated to 5% of the total R&D cost. Based on this, a circumnavigation around the Moon carrying six to eight passengers has been calculated to cost about US$250 million.

Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa will be the first private citizen to fly on a SpaceX rocket around the Moon. (Photo by Natsuki Sakai/AFLO)

These two pieces of data prove two things. First, the Moon exerts a strong 'primal' influence on and attraction to us as human beings, thus assigning commercial value to anything connected with her. Second, space tourism is clearly on the agenda, and trips intended to either orbit or land on the Moon are highly attractive projects.

Indeed, this is the case. In an interview with CNN, SpaceIL mentioned that they plan to sell "sponsored ads" and naming rights on video and image data transmitted back to Earth. Virgin Galaxy, the space tourism enterprise derived from Virgin Airlines, recently sent a real-life employee into space. It is clear that even if lunar research incurs a loss, there are ways to quickly recover the costs.

Exploring the Moon on an equal footing: What’s possible on the Moon today?

More crucial, with developments in science and technology we are now able to accomplish far more in our exploration of the Moon compared to half a century ago.

First of all, we have a better understanding of the Moon's magnetic field.

By studying the rocks brought back by the 'Apollo' program, scientists have discovered that the magnetic field around the Moon is less than 1/1000ththe strength of that around Earth. Furthermore, after calculations, scientists believe there used to be a magnetic field around the Moon that later disappeared.

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