Abstract
In spaceflight as in any other field, measuring progress is a necessary component of making progress. Given multiple proposals for missions and programs, some means for comparison between them must be used to inform spending decisions. Metrics can be used to instil a useful sense of competition between different groups or nations, such as in the case of the early space race and the Ansari X-Prize. I present a metric—mass value—that can be used in decision-making and competition at scales ranging from individual space missions to proposals for large scale settlement of the solar system by humans. A metric-based policy would give commercial and nongovernment entities freedom to pursue mission objectives how they see fit and enable an acceleration of space exploration and space settlement.
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