The Lunar Economy, and Who Owns the Moon?

Mining & Minerals - Evaluations / Off-World Exploration, Mining, & Technology

Date posted: 02/19/17

Rich Haridy asks the question ... Who owns the Moon? Technically no one, but interesting times lie ahead in terms of potential commercial and private property claims to the lunar surface for mining and telecommunications. According to internal documents obtained by Politico, President Trump and his administration is investigating, what they are calling, the large-scale economic development of space. The ambitious plans for commercially exploring space outlined in the documents propose potential new moon landings within the next three years as well as, private lunar landers staking out de facto property rights for American on the Moon, by 2020. The reference to property rights in the new administration documents raises the long-standing thorny issue of whether anyone could viably stake a land claim on the Moon. The Outer Space Treaty, developed in 1967, and currently signed and ratified by the majority of nations on the globe, outlines the general legal framework for modern international space law. In reference to the Moon, the Treaty states that it, is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means. The Outer Space Treaty problematically left plenty of room for alternative lunar appropriations and led to a more comprehensive agreement developed in 1979 entitled the Moon Treaty. This was a much more specific set of guidelines that banned any commercial or private ownership over celestial bodies as well as also banning military uses of such bodies. This follow-up treaty was not as well-liked by the international community, and by 2016 it had only been ratified by 17 nations, notably none of which have major spacefaring activities. So while most of the international community is seemingly in agreement that the Moon cannot be claimed as sovereign by a nation-state, there is still a degree of fair game for individuals and corporate entities to plant their flags.