Rocket equation 101: Revealing our Moon’s value as a launchpad

The global rush to the Moon this century is catalyzed in major part by the presence of water ice, soil rich in oxygen and metals, and other such resources. The long-term bet is that extracting resources in-situ on Luna, using oxygen and hydrogen as rocket fuel, and manufacturing things there itself will ultimately create an independent enough planetary economy that’s no longer completely dependent on Earth for at least the most basic supplies needed by humans and bots alike. Rockets and spacecraft launched from the Moon would have easier access to destinations across the Solar System than terrestrial ones do. To that end, building for the harshest environments on the Moon makes it easier to build for many places in the Solar System as well.Whether the long-term bet will actually work in practice is not a guarantee at this nascent point in humanity’s space endeavors, no matter what the marketing and punditry of the space sector would have you believe. Nor is it guaranteed that any…