Another idea that has been proposed for using the Moon as a source of energy is to cover a portion of its surface with solar collectors and beaming the collected energy to Earth. Many terawatts of solar energy hits the Moon every year and collecting just a portion of it could sate much of the Earth’s hunger for power.

Another theory suggests that the Moon may have deposits of platinum group metals through eons of asteroid bombardment. The reason that is important is that platinum is used as a catalyst for hydrogen fuel cells. If the Earth is to go to a hydrogen economy, forsaking oil and coal, then extraterrestrial sources of platinum may become commercially accessible.

Indeed, the Moon might become the Saudi Arabia of the later part of the 21st Century in terms of being a source for energy. Only in this case there will be no bad tempered Islamofascists to complicate things.