Guest post by Sean Key
For decades, visions of space commerce have leaned heavily on speculative exports such as Helium 3 or rare lunar metals. While these ideas capture imagination, they are far from the economic foundations needed to establish permanence in space. The more immediate, practical backbone of a self-sustaining cisLunar economy is far more tangible: the construction of space stations using lunar resources.
The Case for Lunar Construction
The Moon offers a unique blend of advantages as an industrial base. Its regolith is rich in oxygen, silicon, aluminum, and titanium, materials essential for structural components, shielding, and glass. Its low gravity well, roughly one-sixth that of Earth, allows bulk material to be launched into orbit with far less energy than from Earth’s surface. Coupled with advances in robotic mining, in situ resource utilization, and additive manufacturing, the Moon can supply the mass-intensive raw materials required for large orbital structures.
One of the heaviest and most costly elements of building habitats is radiation shielding. Shipping thousands of tons of protective material from Earth is not economically feasible. Lunar regolith, however, can be sintered into blocks, melted into sheets, or processed into water-rich shielding that can be lifted into orbit at a fraction of the cost. This single factor alone could determine whether large-scale orbital construction is viable.
From Foundations to Infrastructure
Lunar station construction sits at the Tier 2 level of economic development in cisLunar space. It cannot exist without Tier 1 foundations: transport systems, communications, navigation networks, and water processing. But once those are in place, station construction becomes the critical bridge to higher-order activities.
By supplying bulk material for habitats, depots, and research stations, the Moon creates a circular demand loop. Orbital stations rely on lunar exports for their structure and shielding, while in turn providing the platforms for manufacturing, tourism, and scientific research that drive additional demand. This feedback loop is what begins to transform a subsidized frontier into a functioning economy.
The Backbone of Self-Sufficiency
Unlike rare metals or Helium 3, which depend on uncertain future technologies and speculative Earth markets, lunar station construction serves local, immediate needs. Every step toward permanent presence in cisLunar space, whether for research, commerce, or exploration, requires stations, depots, and habitats. By building these from lunar resources rather than shipping every kilogram from Earth, cisLunar development becomes self-reinforcing rather than Earth-dependent.
In this sense, lunar station construction is not merely another export. It is the structural backbone of a self-sustaining cisLunar economy. It anchors the transition from fragile outposts to permanent settlements, from isolated missions to integrated industry. When orbital platforms, depots, and habitats are built with lunar stone, metal, and glass, the Moon ceases to be just a destination. It becomes the industrial base of near-Earth space.
Phased Roadmap for Lunar Station Construction
Phase 1: Resource Prospecting and Extraction
- Map lunar regolith deposits and identify accessible oxygen, aluminum, titanium, and water ice.
- Deploy robotic miners and early in situ processing units.
- Establish power systems and basic surface infrastructure.
Phase 2: Processing and Launching Materials
- Refine regolith into oxygen, metals, and construction materials.
- Develop mass drivers, reusable landers, or space tugs to move bulk material into orbit.
- Begin small-scale delivery of shielding mass to cisLunar orbit.
Phase 3: Orbital Station Assembly
- Use lunar-derived materials for radiation shielding, structural frames, and solar panels.
- Construct propellant depots, crew habitats, and industrial platforms.
- Enable in-orbit manufacturing, science, and tourism industries that reinforce local demand.
Phase 4: Expansion to a Self-Sustaining Economy
- Scale up lunar exports to supply multiple stations and depots.
- Integrate lunar construction into Earth–Moon trade loops.
- Transition from Earth-subsidized operations to a balanced cisLunar market where lunar industry sustains orbital infrastructure.
Looking Ahead
A sustainable cisLunar economy will eventually extend into advanced exports such as microgravity-manufactured fibers, biotech products, and even rare isotopes. Yet none of those possibilities can emerge without the stations, platforms, and depots that serve as their homes. The Moon, through its ability to supply the building blocks of these structures, provides the decisive lever for creating a genuine economic ecosystem beyond Earth.
The story of cisLunar development is often told through dreams of rare treasures and distant futures. But the real story may prove to be more elemental: the quarrying of lunar rock, the smelting of lunar metals, and the raising of stations in orbit. This is the backbone, the step that makes everything else possible.
Sean Key is the CEO of Better Futures, Inc., the producer of “The Unknown Quantity” podcast