Moon Mining? Humans Think Again
Sandeep Ozarde
Founder Director at Leaf Design; PhD Student at University of Hertfordshire
China accounted for more than 60% of global rare earths production. The US was the world’s second-largest producer, accounting for 12%. One reason the US has taken such an interest in mining the Moon is to acquire and control a strong supply of rare earth metals – China controls around 95% of the world’s production of rare earths. Escalating tensions between the US and China have seen the former look to alternate sources of the vital resources and has set its sights on the Moon as a means to claw back some control from China.
“Chinese mining and processing operations now control about 80% of the world’s global output in processed rare-earth metals,” said Eric Chewning, a partner at consulting firm McKinsey & Co.
The Moon Treaty is not recognised by any spacefaring nation, but the 1967 United Nations Outer Space Treaty states that no country can claim ownership of the Moon. However, whether that treaty could be used to prevent private ownership has been questioned. That question has never been answered, but it would need to be before miners could begin drilling into the Moon. If the prospect of Moon mining becomes a reality, it could result in a massive legal battle.?
I don't believe in this rhetoric: "While mining the Moon would have no significant impact on our quality of life (the Moon has a mass of 73 quadrillion tonnes), it would take 220 million years to deplete 1% of the Moon's mass. Even so, it wouldn't be enough to cause an orbital shift or alter the gravitational forces that cause tides."?
Environmental and ethical concerns, such as the impact on future generations, the importance of the Moon in human culture and heritage, and the visual impact from Earth, are of greater concern.?
The Outer Space Treaty, which has since been signed by more than 100 countries, was drafted in 1967 by the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union with the goal of facilitating peaceful space exploration.?
The Moon Treaty of 1979 established a new concept: outer space is the common heritage of mankind and belongs to everyone. So, if it's owned by all of humanity, where does that ownership end? Why is orbital debris removal such a difficult task? And what is the best way to resolve it? There's a lot of flotsam and jetsam floating around out there that no one can touch. According to the Outer Space Treaty, once you own it, once you launch it, you own it for life, and no one else can take it away from you — even if it's a danger.?
China sees space as an important source of energy security that could change the game. The moon, in particular, has an abundance of helium-3, a light and non-radioactive fusion fuel that is nearly non-existent on Earth. The moon has massive amounts of helium-3 because it lacks an atmosphere and has been bombarded by solar winds containing the isotope for billions of years. According to some estimates, the lunar surface contains at least 1.1 million metric tonnes of helium-3, enough to power human energy needs for up to 10,000 years.?
Allowing private control of space resources could spark a new space war, in which wealthy companies, most likely from developed countries, could seize control of critical resources – such as ice on the Moon – and profit handsomely from them.?
The Apollo missions returned with 842 pounds of lunar material. NASA maintains strict control over the samples, with less than 10% of the total samples undergoing any experimentation. The lunar samples are a limited national resource and a future heritage, according to NASA, which requires that samples be released only for approved research, education, and public display purposes.?
领英推荐
The problem is that when it comes to mining the Moon, pro-mining camps love to claim that they are the ones who will save our planet. They claim that their mission is to return to the Moon and unlock the mysteries of the Moon's resources for the benefit of humanity. Rare-earth metals like neodymium and lanthanum are used in technologies like speakers, smartphones, batteries, and camera lenses, and other metals like silicon, titanium, and aluminium are also useful. In 1979, countries were given the opportunity to sign the so-called Moon Treaty. It attempted to safeguard the Moon by requesting that it become a "common heritage of mankind." Despite the fact that the treaty went into effect in 1984, no major space-faring power has ever signed it – the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, China, and Japan are all notable omissions.?
The lack of interest is largely due to the fact that "common heritage" implies shared ownership and equitable resource distribution. As a result, rather than being kept by the country or company that extracted the resources, the proceeds from the sale of any resources mined on the Moon would have to be equally distributed around the Earth. And it appears that few countries are willing to sign away their profits for the greater good.?
The treaty also called for an international body to oversee the exploitation of the Moon's natural resources, which is unfortunate. Without such regulation, a winner-take-all mentality could emerge, resulting in a lunar 'gold rush' by countries and companies with the financial means to make the journey.?They want to figure out how to establish a lunar presence that will last in the long run. They're ambitious, and the current Change 4 mission will inform future crewed Moon landings as well as Mars sample-return missions. Plans to mine asteroids, monitor space junk, establish the first human settlement on Mars, and Elon Musk's own plans for an uncrewed mission to Mars are among the space adventures on the drawing board.?
Deltion Innovations, based in northern Ontario, collaborated with Moon Express, the first private space exploration company in the United States to be granted a government permit to travel beyond Earth's orbit, to investigate potential space opportunities. On May 16, just a few days after the Blue Moon lander was unveiled, NASA announced that it had worked with 11 US companies on a human landing system prototype for its Artemis moon mission, which is scheduled to return humans to the moon by 2024. The collaboration, which will involve the collaboration of ten US companies, was announced at a meeting at NASA's Office of Commercial Spaceflight.?
Blue Origin recently revealed their plans for the Blue Moon Lander, which is aimed at allowing humans to stay on the Moon for an extended period of time. NASA has requested proposals from several companies to build a lunar lander as part of the NASA Artemis Program, but Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin has a clear advantage. Jeff Bezos, unveiled a model for his company's 2024 "Blue Moon" moon landing goal.?
In the 1960s, there was a bipartisan race between the US and the Soviet Union to be the first to set foot on the moon's surface, but this time the US is up against private companies like SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, as well as international powers like China. For decades, the moon and Mars have alternated as the top space exploration priorities of various presidential administrations.
Water is one of the most promising discoveries on both Mars and the moon, but the layout of this water differs. Water could be refined into rocket fuel, allowing spacecraft to use the moon as a fueling station on their way to other parts of the solar system, such as Mars. Moonwater could be used to supply rocket fuel to missions all over the Solar System, according to Shackleton Energy.?
This will allow businesses to own the lunar resources they extract, which is necessary for NASA contractors to convert moonwater ice into rocket fuel or extract lunar minerals for landing pads. The lunar-mining company would gather rocks or dirt from the moon to sell to NASA under a variety of contracts, without having to return the resources to Earth. The proceeds from the sale of any resources mined on the moon would have to be distributed evenly across the globe, rather than being kept by the nation or company that mined them.
References: