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The ongoing development of an updated Solar Propulsion system, based upon work done by kbd512 in early 2025, appears to be leading toward a capability of travel around the Solar System based upon Solar energy and Hydrogen.
This topic is available for NewMars members who might wish to post links, images or text in support of the proposition that Oxygen will be a valuable commodity in a Solar System economy, and that an automated system can be designed, manufactured and deployed to collect water from various locations where it is abundant.
The economic exchange I am thinking about is based upon the observation that human populations away from Earth are going to need a reliable supply of Oxygen, in addition to other materials needed to sustain life.
A vessel that propels itself with Hydrogen can head out toward fertile locations with full tanks of Hydrogen. At the destination, the solar energy collection system can be re-purposed to collecting water and separating oxygen and hydrogen. The Hydrogen can then be used to propel the vessel back to where oxygen is needed. The buyer would negotiate a transaction to acquire the oxygen, sufficient to reward the investors and to refuel the vessel with hydrogen. While Oxygen may be the economic driver, other materials essential for human life will be of value and therefore worth paying for.
I am thinking here of the robust shipping trade that grew up in the 17th and 18th Centuries on Earth. Ships picked up specialized cargo from ports and then traded the cargo for other cargo in a process that eventually rewarded the investors. It seems (to me at least) we will see something similar in the Solar System economy, with the difference that almost none of the work will be done by humans.
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