How Much Does The Moon Cost? Welcome To The New Klondike In Space

5th Apr 2025

It looks like the Moon is no longer just a romantic symbol and a beautiful lantern in the night sky. It is rapidly turning into a valuable asset — a new Klondike. And if earlier diggers dreamed of a gold mine, armed with a pick and shovel, today they are aiming for lunar riches, preparing lunar rovers and drilling rigs. In this article, we will analyze how much the Moon is worth and what these figures are based on.

“Digging Is Not Allowed In This Area!”

Before taking a virtual pick and estimating the future profits, let’s sort out the legal formalities. Who is the owner of the Moon? After all, it is possible to get a bullet for invading someone else’s territory. The 1967 Outer Space Treaty is adamant: the Moon is the common heritage of mankind, and no country can own it alone. But who has ever been stopped by pieces of paper with seals?

The first person who managed to sell the Moon was American Dennis Hope. In 1980, he founded “Lunar Embassy” and began generously handing out lunar plots to anyone who wanted them. For money, of course. You can read more about this story and all the legal conflicts associated with rights to the Moon in our article Who Owns the Moon.

How Much Does Buying An Acre Of Land On The Moon Cost?

land on the Moon for sale — The Moon for sale. Credit: Google/Pinaki Goswami

At the beginning of sales, Dennis Hope estimated an acre of the lunar surface at a modest $19.99. But as demand grew (yes, the excitement was incredible!), the price rose to $30-40, depending on the site location and other factors known only to Hope himself.

So, how much would it cost to buy the Moon according to the “Lunar Embassy”? Knowing the area of our satellite (9.39 billion acres) and the average price per acre of $30, we get approximately… $280 billion! Not that much by the standards of fat cats from Earth. But even if you decide to buy the entire Moon, no one will confirm your rights, because such ownership certificates have no legal force. At least for now.

How Much Does The Moon Cost: The Resource’s Value

The real worth of the Moon is not in papers with doubtful seals, but in its depths, hiding colossal reserves of natural resources. Although there is no official price tag with the inscription “price of the Moon” yet, estimates, based on the potential benefit of mining lunar minerals, make the heart of any investor beat faster.

Regolith

This rocky soil is abundant on the surface of our satellite and can become an excellent building material, … when we learn how to process it.

How much does a moon rock cost? Brought from the Moon to Earth, this material has high scientific value, and on the black market, it is valued at round sums with several zeros.

Of course, if we seriously settle on the Moon as colonists, regolith will cost no more than ordinary crushed stone. But this is not the near future.

Water (ice)

According to some estimates, the shadowed craters at the poles of the Moon could contain up to 600 million tons of water ice. This would not only provide drinking water for future lunar settlers but also oxygen for breathing and hydrogen for rocket fuel. With such a perspective, the Moon could become not only a permanent colony for earthlings but also a transit point on the way to colonizing Mars and other planets.

Common Metals

Titanium, aluminium, and iron are all found in abundance in the lunar regolith. These metals can be used to build lunar bases and produce equipment directly on-site, significantly saving on expensive delivery of materials from Earth.

Helium-3

This helium isotope is a dream of power engineers, as it is considered to be the ideal fuel for the thermonuclear reactors of the future. There is very little helium-3 on Earth, but on the Moon, according to various estimates, its reserves range from 1 to 10 million tons! Just think about it: Just 25 tons of helium-3 delivered to Earth could provide energy for the entire United States for a whole year!

Rare Earth Elements

These resources are strategically important for the development of advanced technologies on Earth. There are REE on the Moon, but their exact reserves and the feasibility of extraction still require further research.

What Is The Current Price Of The Moon?

Now let’s put it all together and present an approximate estimate of the main lunar resources cost. The figures are taken from publicly available sources based on NASA and ESA estimates.

Resource	Estimated Quantity	Unit Price	Total Estimated Value	Application
Water (Ice)	Billions of tons	$10,000 – $100,000 per ton (depending on use)	Trillions of dollars	Use as drinking water, production of oxygen and hydrogen fuel. The cost of transporting water from Earth is significantly higher.
Common Metals (Titanium, Aluminum, Iron)	Billions of tons	Varies by metal and purity, from $100 to $10,000+ per ton	Trillions of dollars	Important for building lunar infrastructure, reducing dependence on supplies from Earth.
Helium-3	1–10 million tons	Up to $3 billion per ton	$3 – $30 trillion	Potential fuel for fusion reactors; extremely rare on Earth.
Rare Earth Elements (REEs)	Unknown	Varies by element, from $10 to $100+ per kg	Potentially billions of dollars	Used in the production of high-tech equipment. Further research is needed to assess reserves.
Regolith (as building material)	Virtually unlimited	Depends on processing. $10-$100 per ton.	Hundreds of billions of dollars	Reducing construction costs by utilizing local materials.

As we can see, the price of our natural satellite, if we take into account only the explored reserves of helium-3, and we don’t even mention water and other metals yet, is not billions, but many trillions of dollars! How much is the moon per kg? The question remains open, there are too many unknown variables. But the fact that we are talking about astronomical amounts is already obvious.

The Future Of The Lunar Klondike

Colony on the Moon, artist’s interpretation. Credit: ESA – P. Carril

Of course, mining Moon minerals is a matter of the future, but today, many countries and private companies are actively developing ambitious plans to develop this space Klondike. NASA, with the Artemis program, ESA, China with its Chang’e lunar program, SpaceX, Blue Origin and Astrobotic and others are striving not only to return humans to the Moon but also to create permanent bases there, developed using local resources.

Will the development of our natural satellite turn into a new Gold Rush, where people will fight to the death for a piece of moon rock, or into fruitful cooperation for all mankind, as in the space TV show under the same name? We will have to see in the upcoming decades.