Most forward looking space planners believe that lunar water will be one of the primary resources that will drive cis-lunar economic activities. But can the growth of a water-based ecosystem be modelled to make future revenue predictions? Using a new methodology that combines System Dynamics with scenario planning a team of researchers in Japan and France has done just that by quantifying the parameters of two scenarios likely to unfold in the near future: a lunar settlement called “Moonopolis” and a long term exploration effort named “Apollo 2.0”. The analysis was just published in Acta Astronautica in a paper entitled The cis-lunar ecosystem — A systems model and scenarios of the resource industry and its impact.
System Dynamics (SD) is time-based modeling to frame, understand, and discuss dynamic behavior of complex systems. Originally developed in the 1950s to improve a company’s understanding of industrial processes, SD is used in both the public and private sectors for policy analysis and to drive strategy.
In the study, the authors* find that three factors are essential for success: government support for R&D, private capital re-investment, and continued growth of the telecom satellite industry in geosynchronous orbit. With these stipulations a cis-lunar economy of $32 billion is projected after 20 years.
Key insights gleaned from this novel holistic model reveal the dynamics of a space resource economy and the interaction of of key technical, policy and socioeconomic variables along with their uncertainties to make future projections.
Incidentally, the authors partnered with a Japan-based company called iSpace on the study which has its own plans for a lunar city called Moon Valley. They are projecting that 1000 people could be living there by 2040.
* Authors of The cis-lunar ecosystem — A systems model and scenarios of the resource industry and its impact: Marc-Andre Chavy-Macdonald, Kazuya Oizumi, Jean-Paul Kneib, Kazuhiro Aoyama