Skyler Chan is the 22-year old founder and CEO of GRU. And he's building a hotel on the moon.The plan is to send a 10kg payload to the lunar surface, make the first brick manufactured on the moon, inflate the first pressure-tested structure in a lunar environment, and prove that off-world surface habitation is an engineering problem, not a science fiction fantasy.In this episode we get into the actual technology geopolymer bricks made from lunar regolith, inflatable pressure bladders, and why GRU and Skyler receive hate mail, get laughed at and don't care. We talk economics and the difference between the cost of launch and the price of launch, and why conflating the two is the most common mistake people make when dismissing hotels on the moon. We also Think On Paper about:- The key problem blocking human life on the moon and Mars- Why geopolymer bricks made from lunar regolith could be the most important construction material in history. - The economics of getting to the moon and why launch costs and launch prices are two completely different things. - What success looks like for Gru's first mission. - Why Skyler thinks this is an operational problem, not a technology problem. Thinking on Paper is a technology show for the radically curious. Please enjoy.--⁠Listen to every podcast⁠Follow us on ⁠Instagram⁠Follow us on ⁠X⁠Follow Mark on ⁠LinkedIn⁠Follow Jeremy on ⁠LinkedIn⁠Read our ⁠Substack⁠Email: [email protected](00:00) Trailer(02:19) Building a Hotel on the Moon(06:06) The Logistics of Space Travel(06:47) Economic Considerations for Lunar Ventures(10:03) Merging Technologies for Lunar Habitats(10:59) First Mission: Building the First Brick on the Moon(13:15) Changing Perceptions of Space Projects(16:25) The Human Spirit and Interplanetary Exploration(19:40) Responsibility of Being an Interplanetary Species

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.