Space Flight is Too Risky for Investors

This objection was more relevant when the Artemis Project got started back in 1994. In the time since then, several new commercial space enterprises have started up. We expect to see commercial launchers within the next couple of years. Private interests are working on making the Mir space station a commercial concern. In 1999 a new, well-capitalized company announced their intent to build commercial manned facilities in space.

The outlook is much more promising, but it remains true that very few investors are willing to take the risk in the unknown, and capital-intensive, field of commercial manned space flight.

This phenomenon is one of the reasons we have organized the Artemis Project to place most of the business risk in known industries.

The Artemis Project business plan minimizes the risk to investors so that capital should never be more at risk in this project than in any multi-faceted venture in the entertainment business. If we are unable to generate the revenue> needed to fly the spacecraft, we still will not have lost money because the spacecraft development depends on revenues generated from its entertainment value.

We reduce the need for investing directly in space flight, but rather to seek investment in associated ventures in known industries such as making movies, television, publications, and merchandising. The promise of the project is sufficiently entertaining that if we tell the story well, we'll have enough money to be at break-even before we do the first launch.

We shouldn't need to go out and ask people to invest large sums in a risky business. In fact, we're being very conservative in the new startups we're working on. For instance, we need Artemis Magazine to introduce the project to a certain segment of the market. This is a market we know and understand. If the project is really as popular as we hope and circulation figures are off the charts, then Artemis Magazine will become a major contributor to the Lunar Base Development Fund. If not, we'll still be contributing a really nice publication with a top-notch editor.

Another example is our little line of coffee cups, T-shirts, and whatnot; the "Moonbase Artemis" collection available in the Lunar Traders catalog. These things are really neat all by themselves. If the space shot goes big, the old Coffee Cup Mark One will be a sought-after collector's item; but if not, $7.50 isn't a bad price if you want to drink coffee out of something nice.

As commercial manned space flights become better known, we can expect that additional capital will be available for expanding our endeavors. Until then, we expect to be able to accomplish our goals through indirect marketing.

See you at the lemonade stand!