Economically viable lunar development

It is generally accepted that continued large-scale exploration and development of the Moon would depend more on the private sector than on governments. There are two reasons for this. The first is that governments do not have excess funds. Instead, cutting budgets and downsizing are the primary concerns. The second and more important reason is that there is little public support for Space in general. While most people, including even a few elected officials, understand the importance of national efforts in Space, national spans of attention tend to be short. Therefore, since Space requires a long time frame, it cannot retain the attention of citizen or government, and it has a difficult time attracting investor financing. A new paradigm is needed for the further development of Space, in general, and the Moon, in particular. In particular, it is necessary to deconstruct such a long-term project into independently financeable units that have dual use potential. This essay proposes such a framework in general terms. This approach has not been suggested elsewhere.