Transforming the moon into humanity’s first space center

This year will mark a turning point in humanity’s relationship with the world moonas we begin to lay the foundations for our permanent presence on its surface, paving the way for our natural satellite to become an artificial center – a center that will lead us to… Mars And beyond.

Developing a lunar economy boils down to three critical elements: the ability to get there, the means to refuel for the return trip, and profitable enterprises operating on the lunar surface. In 2025, technologies in all three areas will finally begin to take tangible form.

For nearly a decade, the giants of private space exploration have been –SpaceX and Blue original– They entered a race to reach the moon. SpaceX’s newest rocket, Starship, is central to this effort. Almost twice as tall (121 meters vs. 70 metres) and three times as wide (9 meters vs. 3.7 metres) as its predecessor, Falcon 9, Starship certainly has size, but it’s also designed to change the way we think about space. He travels. Unlike traditional rockets, which are used once and then discarded, Starship can be reused for multiple flights and even refueled while in orbit. Its increased power means it can deliver about 100 metric tons of payload to the Moon in one trip. That’s roughly the equivalent of all the payloads sent to the Moon in history combined, but just in one go.

Conventional missiles can only deliver approx 0.1 percent of its total take-off weight to the Moon, but the spacecraft, with its refueling capacity, can save approximately 2 percent. Imagine this: If a traditional rocket were a moving truck, it would be like using an 18-wheeler to deliver a single suitcase. With Starship, the cost of a ton of payload delivered to the lunar surface decreases, making lunar missions less expensive.

Not far from Blue Origin’s Blue moon lander. Although it may be smaller than Starship, with a capacity of nearly 3 metric tons, Blue Moon is designed to provide heavy equipment and infrastructure, tools that will transform the Moon from a barren outpost into a thriving industrial base. Together, these vehicles lay the foundation for the emerging lunar economy.

In 2025, SpaceX plans to demonstrate Starship’s full suite of capabilities, including its ability to refuel in orbit and reuse, reducing lunar transportation costs and making the Moon more accessible than ever before. This is part of an ongoing series of orbital flight tests, which began in 2023 and continue until 2024, and will do so in 2025.