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But, really, how much is a planet worth? The moon hasn't been profitable.
Yet. Whoever sets up the first moon resort is going to make a fortune.
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Hemodialysis costs Medicare $90,000 annually per patient.[1] Space kidneys could cost $500K and the government would probably still save money, especially if they're based on the patient's stem cells (or very close matches) so immunosuppressants aren't necessary. Kidneys don't mass much. We don't need super-cheap launch to make space kidneys worthwhile. [1] https://pharm.ucsf.edu/kidney/need/statistics
Is this something we could start doing tomorrow? Do we already know how to make space kidneys and just need the space in space to do it?
I used the cost of dialysis but it's not even just the dialysis itself, it's also dealing with the complications that come with it.
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> Didn't each shuttle cost several billion dollars to refurnish in between launches? No. The launch costs of the Space Shuttle include infrastructure and development cost. Original cost projections were based on up to 50 launches per year. With an actual launch cadence of just ~3 launches per year, accumulated costs skyrocketed when distributed over all launches. Another factor was the heat shielding, which didn't me…
Hemodialysis costs Medicare $90,000 annually per patient.[1] Space kidneys could cost $500K and the government would probably still save money, especially if they're based on the patient's stem cells (or very close matches) so immunosuppressants aren't necessary. Kidneys don't mass much. We don't need super-cheap launch to make space kidneys worthwhile. [1] https://pharm.ucsf.edu/kidney/need/statistics
It'd still be a giant gamble, because both progress in artificial kidneys and new methods for 3d-printing organs could make dialysis obsolete faster than space-grown organs could be available.