If they can pursuade consumers and/or governments to cover the costs of each trip (and the initial funding costs), then they have found an economic reason. Exa

If they can pursuade consumers and/or governments to cover the costs of each trip (and the initial funding costs), then they have found an economic reason. Example being Virgin Galactic - being able to sell tickets for a profit is a pretty sound business plan. Obviously it remains to be seen (at least as far as I'm aware) how successful they will be, maybe they'll quickly realise that the number of people willing to pay is much smaller than they have predicted. But the point is, an economic reason doesn't have to mean that going to the moon is in itself profitable, just that there is a way to make money from the trip.