During the past two centuries, with the majority of the surface of our planet already explored, civilizations around the globe have striven to expand the sphere of human economic influence upward. This trend began with the first skyscrapers of the 1880s and has continued through the birth of commercial aviation and commercial satellites, each of which drives billions of US Dollars in annual revenues while creating infrastructure vital

to the modern way of life. Although some may contend that with geostationary satellites in orbit 36,000 km above sea level our economic sphere has reached its maximum range, there are compelling reasons to believe this is not the case, and that in the near future – rather than simply in dreams inspired by science fiction – we will see commercial activities expanding out into cis-lunar space and beyond.