Russia Slams Trump's Space Mining Order

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Russia’s space agency Roscosmos has condemned US President Donald Trump’s order signed this week, which encourages citizens to mine the moon and other celestial bodies with commercial purposes.

The government body likened the policy to colonialism and said it “hardly sets the countries to fruitful cooperation.”

“There have already been examples in history when one country decided to start seizing territories in its interest — everyone remembers what came of it,” Roscosmos’ deputy general director for international cooperation, Sergey Saveliev, said in a statement.

Trump’s order classifies outer space as a “legally and physically unique domain of human activity” instead of a “global commons,” paving the way for mining the moon without any sort of international treaty.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/russia-slams-trump-space-mining-210000537.html

[Wounded Bear]

1. Unless it's made out of gold or diamonds it'll never really be worth it...

and probably not even then. Costs too much to get there and back.

First I've heard of Trump's mining order.

[Lancero]

3. Not really, their is a plethora of materials that are worth mining for.

The platinum group metals jump to mind immediately, just from a monetary standpoint. Any of the 'rare-earth'/Lanthanoid group metals would also be valuable given the rarity of deposits (The elements themselves aren't that rare in the scale of things, it's just that the majority isn't in large enough veins to be economically feasible to go after.), and their use in pretty much every modern electronic device.

As for the order itself, it really doesn't change anything. What Russia is claiming the act will do (And honestly, given what Russia has been doing in the past decade it's rather hilarious that they're the ones going 'but colonialism!') would have already been allowed under the 2015 SPACE Act.

[2naSalit]

2. Is it a squirrel or is it a plane?

A little Kabuki Theater for our entertainment value?