Currently, the great powers are trying to reach the South pole of the moon, not just for exploration or national pride, but also to obtain the water containing hydrogen and oxygen from the ice which can be used to travel farther to Mars and other asteroids.
In the case of the United States, since Apollo 17 (1972), the USA has been interested in Mars rather than the moon - the robot has been sent to Mars 8 times and Titan, while the space shuttle on the moon was outdated and was finally withdrawn 8 years ago. But the Trump administration turned its attention back to the moon again. One of the reasons is China and other countries' incredible speed, but more importantly, it is due to the economic effects that the enormous resources that can be obtained from the moon. Furthermore, the moon’s south pole can be used as a gas station to travel to other asteroids.
Currently, the US is enacting legislation that would loosen restrictions and allow private companies to take ownership of the resources they acquire on the moon. The US secretary of Commerce predicts that the space economy will generate $1 trillion in economic benefits by 2040. NASA is also partnering with a private company, Boeing, and Elon Musk’s Space X making Spacecraft. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos is also participating in the space business with a project called Blue Origin.
The moon has several meanings. One day, the space shuttle will take people to Mars, but the road to Mars is not easy, and the gas station that provides fuel for that way is the moon. And it also aims to find a breakthrough in global economic growth by allowing private companies to make bonanza in unowned places.
Still, Boeing and Space X seen technically difficult to make Spacecraft, and Bezo’s space project is fuzzy, but eventually, the space era will come, and the economic benefits from this will be great.
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