Magnifying our world: Why we must extend civilization to the Moon

Abstract Since the completion of its original prehistoric migration some 10 000 years ago, humankind has had nowhere else on Earth to go. The Space Age has produced the wherewithal for a new off-Earth human migration to restart, with the Moon as the clear initial destination. As insurance against cataclysmic and human-induced natural disasters, as a means of creating new commercial industrial–financial opportunities at a time of fundamental change in the global economy, and as a way for the USA to regain some international political influence, it should pursue Moon settlement vigorously and soon. However, the developing US space exploration program being designed by NASA for such an undertaking is too narrowly confined to the pursuit of natural-science objectives. There must be fundamental involvement of the private sector and of a much wider range of professionals and federal departments therein.