> but within the realms of what SpaceX is claiming they want to make possible
Is it possible to talk about space faring without mentioning spaceX theories? Why not talk about companies that have been sending stuff up there for decades?
No one else has suggested that they are anywhere close to lifting this amount of mass, or even have any future plans that might change that. For reference, all time total mass to orbit so far is < 20k tons.
Lunar regolith seems to be about 20% silicon (by mass).
We could try to lift that much silicon from earth's gravity well, or try to build a refinery and launch system on the moon, with ~1/6th the gravity of earth.
Theoretically, but to make that work you're talking about a far greater advance in space capabilities than "just" launching from earth. You're still talking about launching 10 millions tons of material, and you're going to need local infrastructure to do everything like "make launch vehicles and fuel" if you want it to be an efficiency win over launching from earth.
Is it possible to talk about space faring without mentioning spaceX theories? Why not talk about companies that have been sending stuff up there for decades?