Length10h 27m
About this audiobook
Liquid oxygen at Earth-Moon Lagrange Point 1 costs 5 dollars per kilogram from the lunar surface. From Earth it costs 5000 dollars per kilogram. This creates a 1000-to-1 cost gradient fixed permanently by orbital mechanics.
The probability that lunar industry becomes profitable within forty years is 5 to 15 percent. This matches historical success rates for early railroads, petroleum, and undersea cables.
The High Ground examines this tension. Based on 605 sources and 1119 citations from resource economics, orbital mechanics, ISRU engineering, and frontier investment history, it argues that expected value justifies lunar industrialization.
Across 15 chapters the book covers the measured lunar resource base, energy economics, propellant architecture, market formation, and current geopolitical pressures.
Book One of The Edge of Progress. The companion volume The Deep Harvest argues the opposite case with equal force: Earths untapped resources create sharper near-term gradients.
Audiobook details
GenreTechnology, Science and Nature
Length10 hrs 27 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateApr 11, 2026
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1Introduction
2Chapter 1 : The Expected Value Argument
3The Physical Gradient
4The Crater and the Design Fork
5The First-Kilogram Problem
Show all chaptersShow less
6The Cost Curve
7Duration, Capital, and Risk Transfer
8Base Rates and Position Size
9Chapter 2: Earth's Diminishing Margins
10The Operational Cost of Declining Concentration
11The energy return on investment Squeeze
12The Chokepoint Map
13The Michaux Ratchet
14Three Gradients Flattening
15Chapter 3: The Moon's Ore Body
16A Four-Billion-Year Grinding Operation
17Three Provinces, Three Feedstocks
18The Triple-Product Hypothesis
19The Carbon Deficit: What the Moon Does Not Have
20The Chemical Pantry
21The Cold Utility
22What Is Known, What Is Modeled, What Is Unknown
23Chapter 4: Built from Dust
24The Material Underfoot
25The Antagonist Underfoot
26When Metal Touches Metal
27The Thermal Ratchet
28The Tubes That Time Built
29Roads from Dust
30The Bio-Mining Fork
31Beyond the Cutting Edge: Lithoautotrophic Bio-Mining
32The Loop That Heals
33Chapter 5: Energy from the Sky: The Radiator Tax
34Chapter 6: The Propellant Architecture
35The Cost Spread
36The Shuttle Precedent: Why Learning Curves Can Lie
37The Counter-Precedent: Bounded Learning
38Cryogenic Storage: The Boil-Off Tax
39The Depot Network
40When the Ledger Turns
41The Double-Edged Sword and the Asymptotic Floor
42Chapter 7: Markets from Zero
43The Revenue That Already Exists
44The low Earth orbit Foundation
45The Cislunar Cost Gradient
46Interlocking Dependencies
47The Tourism Bridge
48Demand-Side Catalysts
49Cislunar Demand Is Not Terrestrial Demand
50Chapter 8: The Insurance Problem
Series
More from Slop Dealer
ApolloCharles Murray, Catherine Bly Cox18h 15m4.6 (3.9K)$30
Frosty: The incredible true story of the boy from Doonside who became a Bathurst kingMark Winterbottom8h 9m4.8 (50)$26 · $0.00
Cadillac Desert, Revised and Updated EditionMarc Reisner27h 56m4.4 (13.6K)$30
The Honey BusMeredith May9h 31m4.4 (16.6K)$25 · $0.00
Operation PedestalMax Hastings12h 29m4.4 (5.2K)$29 · $0.00
When the Heavens Went on SaleAshlee Vance18h 20m4.4 (3K)$40 · $0.00
Hands of TimeRebecca Struthers8h 8m4.4 (1.3K)$26 · $0.00
Everybody Has a Podcast (Except You)Justin McElroy, Travis McElroy, Griffin McElroy5h 9m4.3 (2.3K)$24 · $0.00
Never Lost AgainBill Kilday10h 1m4.4 (805)$29 · $0.00
How the Internet HappenedBrian McCullough13h 28m4.3 (2.7K)$23 · $0.00
Collected Writings of Nikola TeslaNikola Tesla, Thomas Commerford Martin21h 50m4.3 (1.7K)$1 · $0.00
Just AspireAjai Chowdhry9h 13m4.4 (260)$29 · $0.00
The Little Book of AliensAdam Frank8h 20m4.3 (1.3K)$26 · $0.00
The inventions, researches and writings of Nikola Tesla (Annotated)Thomas Commerford Martin16h 59m4.3 (1.3K)$2 · $0.00
KargilV.P. Malik15h 18m4.3 (2K)$24 · $0.00
Experiments with Alternating CurrentsNikola Tesla9h 6m4.3 (874)$1 · $0.00
Fire on the HorizonTom Shroder, John Konrad8h 23m4.3 (858)$26 · $0.00
The Smell of Kerosene (Annotated)National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Donald L. Mallick, Peter W. Merlin11h 32m4.3 (523)$2 · $0.00
The Boy Who Harnessed the WindWilliam Kamkwamba, Bryan Mealer10h 5m4.2 (78.9K)$29 · $0.00
Mars Rover CuriosityRob Manning, William L. Simon7h 43m4.3 (1.7K)$20
Life On Earth 40th Anniversary EditionSir David Attenborough12h 27m4.6 (6.5K)$29 · $0.00
BeyondStephen Walker15h 39m4.6 (3.2K)$33 · $0.00
A Brief History of IntelligenceMax S. Bennett12h 18m4.6 (6.6K)$29 · $0.00
LiftoffEric Berger9h 4m4.6 (9.5K)$29 · $0.00
Distant SkiesMelissa A. Priblo Chapman12h 39m4.7 (379)$23
ApolloCharles Murray, Catherine Bly Cox18h 15m4.6 (3.9K)$30
The Story of BirdsSteve Brusatte11h 49m4.6 (401)$29 · $0.00
Black Earth WisdomLeah Penniman11h 54m4.6 (577)$8 · $0.00
Crystals for BeginnersKaren Frazier3h 49m4.5 (45.6K)$20
What If? 10th Anniversary EditionRandall Munroe7h 29m4.5 (41.4K)$23
Total Cat MojoJackson Galaxy10h 13m4.5 (8.4K)$23 · $0.00
Earth at NightNational Aeronautics and Space Administration2h 26m4.7 (196)$1 · $0.00
My Life Among the UnderdogsTia Torres5h 51m4.5 (4K)$24 · $0.00
What It Takes to Save a LifeKwane Stewart6h4.6 (556)$24 · $0.00
Pastoral SongJames Rebanks8h 35m4.5 (12K)$26 · $0.00
How Stella Learned to TalkChristina Hunger7h4.5 (10.9K)$24 · $0.00
Craig & FredCraig Grossi8h 6m4.5 (9.6K)$26 · $0.00
Celebrating BirdsNatalia Rojas, Ana Maria Martinez6h 47m4.6 (330)$24 · $0.00
WildingIsabella Tree12h 22m4.5 (13.4K)$23
Saving JemimaJulie Zickefoose4h 59m4.5 (749)$20 · $0.00
You may also like
SpacefarersChristopher Wanjek12h 1m4.1 (471)$23
Mission to MarsBuzz Aldrin4h 47m3.9 (1.7K)$17
The First Men in the MoonH. G. Wells7h 47m3.9 (22.9K)$6 · $0.00
Across the Airless WildsEarl Swift10h 8m4.3 (1.3K)$29 · $0.00
Mars Rover CuriosityRob Manning, William L. Simon7h 43m4.3 (1.7K)$20
MarsLeonard David3h 27m4.1 (482)$15
Mars: Our New Home? - National Plan to Conquer the Red Planet (Official Strategies of NASA & U.S. Congress) (Annotated)National Aeronautics and Space Administration, U.S. Congress6h 12m$0.99 · $0.00
Rocket Launch (Annotated)Cyril M. Kornbluth7h 48m$2 · $0.00
A plasma chemistry study on global model for argon gas as a propellant to electrostatic gridded ion thrusterBernardo Vieira Magaldi2h 15m$22 · $0.00
Other WorldsGarrett Putman Serviss5h 14m3.8 (48)$2.30
Exploring MarsScientific American10h 36m3.7 (23)$20
National Aeronautics and Space ActТhe United States Congress56m$2 · $0.00
ExoplanetsScientific American5h 55m4.0 (71)$17
The Universe And Our PlanetsKidsChoice47m$12 · $0.00
Mars: Our New Home?National Aeronautics and Space Administration, U.S. Congress5h 38m$2 · $0.00
Graphic Films Collection - woman in the moon – act 2G. B. Royer7m$11 · $0.00
The SunbornGregory Benford14h 39m3.6 (449)$23
Where's My Jetpack?Daniel H. Wilson3h 41m3.5 (935)$12 · $0.00
50 Years of Solar System ExplorationNational Aeronautics and Space Administration12h 51m$1 · $0.00
Englisch lernen Audio - FloridaVarious Artists, Spotlight Verlag58m$13