<font color="yellow"> Doing what?, I am looking for that Killer App. <br />I can understand LEO fuel depot, <br />LEO Habs, hotel, tourist, ect <br />Drug manufacture, <br />Leo ship building with asteroid metal. <br /><br />What is so economically special about the moon? <br />I can understand Radio astronomy, tourist. <br /></font><br /><br />Well, there may not be a killer app. Most likely it will take a combination of economic activities to make a Lunar colony a profitable venture. There could also be a killer app that no one has thought about or even imagined yet.<br />However, if there is a killer app, I would say that you are on the right track. It is Space /Lunar Tourism.<br /><br />Besides tourism the possibilties include (in no particular order):<br /><br />1. Production of raw materials for space construction (steel, aluminum, silicon, titanium, oxygen, etc)<br />2. Installation and maintenance of large astronomy instrument "farms" (radio telescopes, Very Large Baseline interferometers, microwave and UV telescopes, etc)<br />3. Prospecting for PGMs (platinum group metals)<br />4. Large scale vacuum manufacturing<br />5. Maintaining an active NEO defense station.<br />6. Participate in the technology development for Mars and other solar system missions.<br />7. Novel entertainment projects - TV, movies, shows, sports in 1/6 G.<br /><br /><br />Besides the environmental conditions that make these things feasible on the Moon, the other critical aspects that make the Moon a special place for commerce are its proximity to the Earth, the small communications delay, and the constant line of sight contact.<br /><br />And, as I said, there will be many more things happening on the Moon which we cannot yet imagine. Once we build it, we will figure out many new uses for it.<br />We are at a place in history comparable to the Columbus trip across the ocean. When he was conceiving of the trip, he was probably thinking of trading some gold and spices.... I am sure he never envisoned <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="2" color="#0000ff"><em>The only way to know what is possible is to attempt the impossible.</em></font> </div>