Commercial lunar mining ventures accelerate toward profitability across Europe and globally

DW News reports that lunar resource extraction and space-based manufacturing—long confined to science fiction—are moving closer to commercial viability as private investment accelerates. Multiple companies are now pursuing concrete plans to extract water ice and minerals from the moon and establish it as a launch platform for deep-space missions. The shift reflects a fundamental change in space economics: technological advances and declining launch costs have made moon-based operations financially feasible within the next decade. This matters globally because nations and private entities competing for lunar resources could reshape space commerce and geopolitics, with implications for Earth-based satellite services, communications, and space exploration leadership.