Powers prepare for a ‘gold rush’ on the Moon – 08/14/2023 – Science

Russia launched its first spacecraft in 47 years on Friday, amid a race by major powers including the United States, China and India to discover more about the elements contained in Earth’s only natural satellite.

Russia has said it would launch more moon missions and then explore the possibility of a joint Russia-China manned mission and even a moon base. NASA talked about a “lunar gold rush” and explored the potential of mining on the moon.

Why are the great powers so interested in what’s up there?

The moon

The Moon, which is 384,400 km from our planet, moderates the Earth’s wobble on its axis, which ensures a more stable climate. It also causes tides in the world’s oceans.

Current thinking is that it was formed when something huge collided with Earth about 4.5 billion years ago. The debris from the collision came together to form the Moon.

Temperatures vary: in full sun, they rise to 127°C, while in darkness they plummet to around -173°C. The Moon’s exosphere offers no protection from solar radiation.

Water

The first definitive discovery of water on the Moon was made in 2008 by the Indian mission Chandrayaan-1, which detected hydroxyl molecules scattered across the lunar surface and concentrated at the poles, according to NASA.

Water is crucial to human life, and it can also be a source of hydrogen and oxygen — and these can be used as fuel for rockets.

helium-3

Helium-3 is a rare helium isotope on Earth, but NASA says there are estimates of a million tons of it on the Moon.

This isotope could provide nuclear energy in a fusion reactor, but since it is not radioactive, it would not produce hazardous waste, according to the European Space Agency.

rare earth metals

Rare-earth metals, used in smartphones, computers and advanced technologies, are present on the moon, including scandium, yttrium and the 15 lanthanides, according to Boeing research.

How would mining on the moon work?

It’s not entirely clear.

Some kind of infrastructure would have to be established on the planet. Conditions on the Moon meant that robots would have to do most of the hard work, although the water there would allow for a long-term human presence.

What is the law?

The law is not clear, and full of loopholes.

The 1966 UN Outer Space Treaty says that no nation can claim sovereignty over the moon — or other celestial bodies — and that space exploration must be undertaken for the benefit of all countries.

But lawyers say it is unclear whether or not a private entity can claim sovereignty over part of the Moon.

“Space mining is subject to relatively little existing policy or governance, despite these potentially high stakes,” the Rand Corporation said in a blog post last year.

The 1979 Moon Agreement states that no part of the Moon “shall become the property of any State, international intergovernmental or non-governmental organization, national organization or non-governmental entity, or any natural person”.

It has not been ratified by any major space power.

The United States announced in 2020 the Artemis Accords, named after NASA’s Artemis lunar program, to try to enforce existing international space law by establishing “safety zones” on the Moon. Russia and China have not adhered to the agreements.

^{Translated by Luiz Roberto M. Gonçalves}