We estimate that the entire tourism space program, which will include a robust space shuttle flight schedule, a sprawling spaceport, a space station, and a lunar base, will cost $200 billion. The program will be constructed in two phases, with each phase costing half of the total.
Phase I operations can be broken down into six categories:
- Reentry Vehicle
- Orbital Vehicle Core
- Intelligence Module
- Cislunar Vehicle
- Crew Module
- Other
Each category includes all of the associated support facilities, including manufacturing plants, refurbishing complex, etc. The cost of the six categories is summarized in Table 1.
Talking a billionaire out of their money will be a Sisyphus hurdle to say the least. They will want a ridiculously high Return On Investment (ROI) before they would even entertain the idea of dropping down on the Forbes 100 list..
We estimate that it will take four years to complete the spaceport. So we will offer an ROI of 100% for every year that we keep their money. Therefore, the crowdfunding investor will make a 400% ROI; i.e., one dollar invested yields five dollars in return. They will be making a profit from space!
Total Investor Payback = Investment + 400%
Total Investor Payback = $100B + $400B
Total Investor Payback = $500B USD
We will need the other half of the $200 billion price tag, so add another $100 billion to the pile for Phase II.
Phase II operations can be broken down into three categories:
- Earth Orbit Station
- Lunar LOX Facility
- Lunar Surface Station
The cost of the three categories is summarized in Table 2.
Table 3 sums everything up.
An audacious amount of money to be raised calls for an audacious plan to raise it.
Our audacious plan is this: we return approximately 18,000 kilograms of soil from the lunar surface and sell the material for the equivalent price of a very nice diamond.
Hence the term "Lunar Diamonds." A better name is probably "Lunar Pay Dirt."
We would need to sell this lunar pay dirt for an average of $6,500 per carat to generate $600 billion.
So, to sum everything up, we raise $100 billion through farsighted billionaire(s) and make enough money to pay everyone back with interest by landing on the Moon and returning random lunar samples to sell at auction.
An audacious plan indeed.
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