  The trend of space commercialization is changing the decision-making process
for future space exploration architectures, and there is a growing need for a
new decision-making framework that explicitly considers the interactions
between the mission coordinator (i.e., government) and the commercial players.
In response to this challenge, this paper develops a framework for space
exploration and logistics decision making that considers the incentive
mechanism to stimulate commercial participation in future space infrastructure
development and deployment. By extending the state-of-the-art space logistics
design formulations from the game-theoretic perspective, we first analyze the
relationship between the mission coordinator and commercial players and then
derive the formulation for the optimal architecture design and incentive
mechanism in three different scenarios. To demonstrate and evaluate the
effectiveness of the proposed framework, we conduct a case study on lunar
habitat infrastructure design and deployment. Results show how total mission
demands and in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) system performances after
deployment may impact the cooperation among stakeholders. As an outcome of this
study, we derive an incentive-based decision-making framework that can benefit
both the mission coordinator and the commercial players from commercialization,
leading to a mutually beneficial space exploration between the government and
the industry.
