Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Science
Related: About this forumUS seeks to change the rules for mining the moon
By Scott Shackelford - IU-Bloomington 13 hours ago
(Image: © NASA)
Private industries have helped drop the cost of launching rockets, satellites and other equipment into space to historic lows. That has boosted interest in developing space both for mining raw materials such as silicon for solar panels and oxygen for rocket fuel, as well as potentially relocating polluting industries off the Earth. But the rules are not clear about who would profit if, for instance, a U.S. company like SpaceX colonized Mars or established a moon base.
At the moment, no company or nation is yet ready to claim or take advantage of private property in space. But the US$350 billion space industry could change quickly. Several companies are already planning to explore the moon to find raw materials like water; Helium-3, which is potentially useful in fusion nuclear reactors; and rare earth elements, which are invaluable for manufacturing electronics. What they might find, and how easy the material is to bring back to Earth, remains to be seen.
Anticipating additional commercial interest, the Trump administration has created new rules through an executive order following a 2015 law change for how those companies might profit from operations on the moon, asteroids and other planets. Those rules conflict with a longstanding international treaty the U.S. has generally followed but never formally joined. The administration also is planning to encourage other nations to adopt this new U.S. perspective on space mining.
As a scholar of space law and policy and a proud sci-fi nerd I believe the international community could find new ways to peacefully govern space from examples here on our planet, including deep seabed mining and Antarctica.
Who owns space?
In general, regions of Earth beyond any one nations control like the high seas, the atmosphere and Antarctica have been viewed by the international community as globally shared resources. That principle applied to space, too, until President Donald Trumps executive order specifically rejected the idea that space was any sort of global commons shared among all nations and peoples of the Earth.
More:
https://www.livescience.com/us-change-rules-for-moon-mining.html
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
5 replies, 754 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (0)
ReplyReply to this post
5 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
US seeks to change the rules for mining the moon (Original Post)
Judi Lynn
May 2020
OP
I wouldnt worry about it as its simply not economical to mine the moon or any other planet in our
cstanleytech
May 2020
#5
Karadeniz
(22,513 posts)1. I think we need to confine our planetary destruction to planet Earth.
cstanleytech
(26,290 posts)5. I wouldnt worry about it as its simply not economical to mine the moon or any other planet in our
solar system and I doubt that will change for a long time if ever.
jls4561
(1,257 posts)2. Well, there's one more thing Biden has to fix immediately.
I sure hope someone on his staff is keeping a list.
lapfog_1
(29,199 posts)3. As predicted
JDC
(10,127 posts)4. Trump creating "Space Force" makes a lot more sense
After reading this.