an initial lunar settlement is possible through further development of existing design work, but that a superior option is neither immediate nor obvious. Selecting a single framework (or a specific hybrid of several) is critical to best funnel capital into the most promising technologies. An action path is proposed that leverages consideration of permanence and significance as feedback to clearly characterize the best design choice for initial funding. Permanence seeks to answer, ‘How can we ensure that the construction of the first lunar base is able to expand into the foreseeable future in both population and space?,’ while significance seeks to answer, ‘How can we ensure that the consequences of operating the settlement are economically beneficial to society?’ There is not much literature to answer these questions, despite the importance of the answers.

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