A Manx-based space commerce think tank says it is ’possible’ for a settlement to be created on the Moon in the next decade.

And Rob Alexander, executive director of the International Institute of Space Commerce (IISC), believes there will be a Manx flag flying there.

A Lunar Economic Action Plan, drawn up by the IISC, concluded that a private settlement on the Moon is ’surprisingly feasible and even cost effective’, offering the best chance of success for a return to the Moon.

It says technology is not the issue and economics is the key. And it adds: ’If conducted properly, the private settlement of the Moon and Solar System could see a multi-billion, if not trillion, dollar expansion of the global economy.’

IISC brought together 20 of the world’s leading thinkers on spaceflight to ask if a commercial settlement on the Moon would be possible.

In 2014, the National Space Society estimated it would cost $5bn for an initial settlement on the Moon by 2022. But the authors of Lunar Economic Action Plan believe the cost has come down.

Mr Alexander told MTTV: ’I think there will be a Manx flag on the Moon because a lot of the companies going to be operating there will be based in the Isle of Man.’

Manxman and IISC board member Chris Stott said: ’We have the technology for a settlement on the Moon. We can make this happen. What needs to be considered is the economics, the business plan, and the regulatory issues that would arise. But all this is solvable.’

In 2011, the Isle of Man was named the fifth most likely country to put a man on the Moon.

But our space ambitions came crashing down to Earth when Excalibur Almaz pulled out its Soviet space capsules from its base at Jurby.