this post was submitted on 01 Mar 2025
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We build the thing on the moon itself
Sure, it's mostly barren rock, but it still got useful stuff there, like for example water (hydrogen and oxygen, rocket fuel), carbon and oxygen in the rocks (methane, also rocket fuel), metals (building rockets), and various other elements
From what I've read we know, it's relatively poor in nitrogen and carbon, so the moon is not as useful as it could have been, but water is really all you need. If you can produce fuel and rocket parts on the moon, it's about as useful as it can be for space exploration and development
Since, remember, the alternative is getting those resources either from the surface of the earth (expensive in terms of fuel, and requires powerful rockets, aka bigger ships, also expensive), or from some place further out like the asteroid belt (time consuming). Gravity on the moon is much much smaller, so even if we don't have a space elevator, it would be far cheaper to use the moon as a starting point, or at least as a refueling point
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_resources?wprov=sfla1