NASA announced on Thursday that it plans to buy lunar soil from a commercial company, a top official of the agency said, setting a precedent for the transfer of ownership of objects from the outside world and stimulating harvest resources in markets from institutions in the solar system.
The initiative is getting off to a small start, but NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstein said Thursday that it will allow companies to mine lunar soil for water ice, precious metals and other resources.
“We’re interested in buying some lunar land commercially,” Bridenstein said in a virtual presentation at the Secure World Foundation’s Space Sustainability Summit on Thursday. “So we want a commercial company to go to the moon, a little lunar soil, and then … NASA can take over.”
“We’re buying Regolith, but we’re really doing it to show that it can be done, the resources extracted from the moon are in fact the property of people who have invested their sweat and their treasures, and their equity in it. Give it a try, “said Bridenstein.
The roots of NASA’s purchase of lunar soil from a commercial company are in legislation passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama in 2015, Bridenstan said. The law allows private companies to exploit water, minerals and other materials harvested from the moon, ka, va, its own and.
Brydenstein said NASA’s goal in promoting a commercial market for lunar mining is to comply with the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, an international agreement ratified by 110 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, China and Russia.
The Outer Space Treaty states: “Outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, is not subject to national allocation by claims of national sovereignty, by use, or by business, or in any other way.”
Bridensta said NASA believes in the outer space treaty, but wants to “enable the normalization process” to show the mining and ownership status of resources from the outside world.
“We believe … that we cannot justify the moon for national sovereignty,” he said. “And that’s not exactly what we’re supposed to do.
“But we believe we can extract resources from the moon, just as we can extract tuna from the ocean and use it,” Brydenstein said. “We don’t have the sea. But if you apply your hard work, and labor and your investment to tuna ka extva from the sea, you can own tuna from the sea, and it can be a very valuable tool for humanity. ‘
“And so the question is whether it is possible to acquire the right to property for the sake of national sovereignty, without allocating the moon or other celestial bodies? And I think the answer is yes. “
NASA plans to land astronauts on the moon for the first time since 1972 through the Artemis program. The Trump administration last year instructed NASA to land a crew near the moon’s south pole before the end of 2024, four years ahead of NASA’s previous schedule to return astronauts to the lunar surface.
NASA wants the Artemis program to lead to a more permanent human presence on the moon than the Apollo program, which ended in 1970. To finally create the Artemis program, NASA says that instead of bringing all the necessary materials from Earth, crews or robots will need to extract and use resources such as water and ice from the moon.
“How can we create a sustainable program? We need to use water ice, millions of tons of water ice on the moon, ”Brydenstein said. “It’s air to breathe, it’s drinking water,” and it could also be turned into rocket fuel, he said.
“So all of this is available in millions of tons at the moon’s south pole, we need to be able to use it as a source,” he said.
Along with helium-3, precious metals can also be mined from the moon, which can be used as an energy source.
Bridenstein has characterized the issue of extraterrestrial mining as non-partisan, but has also raised concerns about the exploitation of resources from other planets.
“Proceeding to resource extraction without a clear presentation of how the future of the past is planned to be separated from the past on Earth is a way to repeat a shameful, environmentally destructive history,” Emily Lakdawala of the Planetary Society tweeted.
Clive Neil, a lunar scientist at the University of Notre Dame, expressed support for NASA’s new lunar soil initiative. But he tweeted that environmental impact statements, which are a standard part of many construction projects in the United States, should be the initial step for proposals for the use of lunar resources and their use.
“There is no risk of companies snatching the moon and ruining it by the year 2100, because there are no valuable resources on the moon that you can sell on Earth,” said Phil Metzger, a planetary scientist at the university. Planetary soil samples are taken in Central Florida whose research skills. “You can get everything on earth a million times cheaper.
“Second, we don’t have the technology to mine the moon on a large scale,” Metzger added. “Technological development alone will take 30 to 40 years to make a large-scale lunar mining venture economically viable. The key will reduce the need for humans to stand around repairing broken robots. ”
President Trump signed an executive order in April outlining a policy that the United States would not view space as a “global commune.” The order reinforces a 2015 law signed by President Obama that allows U.S. Gives citizens and companies the right to mine and exploit resources cut off from other institutions in space.
The policy runs counter to the 1979 Lunar Treaty, which states that the moon and its natural resources are “the common heritage of mankind.” The Lunar Treaty added that an international framework is needed to manage the exploitation of lunar resources “when such exploitation becomes possible.”
But the Lunar Treaty of 1979 has only 18 parties, not signed or ratified by the United States, China or Russia.
Bridenstein said Friday that NASA wants to ensure that “there is a strong legal framework in international law” that allows individuals and companies to pursue private interests on the moon.
“What we’re trying to do is make sure there’s a standard of behavior that says resources can be redistributed, and we’re doing it in a way that complies with the outer space treaty,” Brydenstein said. “And we’re doing it in a way that people can’t interfere with your efforts to conserve those resources.”
Earlier this year, NASA outlined the principles of the Artemis Accords, the principles of which would be expected to be explored by international partners of the agency. These principles include peaceful exploration of the moon, transparency, interpersonal power, pledge of emergency assistance, registration of space objects, and public disclosure of scientific data.
“These norms of conduct … eventually become binding on international law,” Brydenstein said. “This is a trail that needs to be bleed, and I think the United States needs to be led here, and then those norms of behavior will eventually inform international law that will ensure that space is sustainable in the long run.” ”
Some scientists have questioned how NASA will implement planetary safety guidelines in the age of mining and other retail-organized business activity in space. Planetary defense focuses on stopping spacecraft, and ultimately interfering with areas that harm humans, the life of the outside world. The guide is stricter on a Mars-like world than the moon.
In July, NASA announced that it was eliminating planetary security requirements for missions to most of the lunar surfaces. The areas around the poles, which handle water ice, and the Apollo Apollo landing sites will be under a high range of planetary protection.
Brindenstein said Thursday that although NASA is not a regulatory agency, it can set expectations for private companies.
“If you want to be with us when we go to the moon, if you want to be a private company that could be NASA as a customer, if you want to be with us when you go to Mars, there are certain behaviors that you have to do. We have to comply, ”said Bridenstein.
The request for NASA proposals, released Thursday, is open to US and international companies. According to agency spokeswoman Stephanie Shearerholz, the proposals are Oct Oct. Due due and NASA may award one or more awards.
The companies that receive the award will collect lunar soils or rocks from anywhere on the moon and provide an idea of the NASA and the collected material, as well as present the information that has been captured. The companies will then transfer ownership of the samples to NASA in place on the moon.
NASA expects to pay 15 15,000 to ,000 25,000 for 50 to 500 grams of lunar clay, Bridenstan said Thursday. The final price will be determined by the results of the competition, according to Shearerholz.
If a company collects more than 500 grams, it can sell the rest to other countries, companies or private individuals, Brydenstein said. And there could be more competition for companies to collect lunar clay and sell it to NASA.
In 2018, NASA set up a series of bidding competitions for companies to ferry scientific devices to the moon to establish a program of commercial lunar payload services. To qualify for the CLPS Agreement Awards, NASA awarded the U.S. Has selected 14 companies, and the agency has awarded four robotic lunar lander missions to date.
The first CLPS mission – developed by astrobotic and intuitive machines – is scheduled for launch to the moon in 2021.
Eligibility for the lunar soil challenge announced Thursday will not be limited enough to CLPS providers. Bridenstein said other U.S. companies and international groups would be able to bid.
“What we’re trying to do is to establish standards of conduct to create regulatory certainty so that companies out there will invest in these programs and move forward,” Bridensta said. “We are trying to prove the idea that resources can be processed and traded, not just between companies or individuals, but across countries and across borders.
“I would say the starting point is water ice,” he said. “A lot of private companies go to the same place and get that water ice, and then they sell it to us as an agency or other private companies that use the moon as a target for all sorts of different abilities.”
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