April 2025 was a busy month for space.
Pop icon Katy Perry joined five other civilian women A quick trip to the edge of the roomGetting newspaper heads. In the meantime, another group of people at the United Nations considered a critical issue for the future of space -exploration: the discovery, extraction and use of Natural resources on the moon.
At the end of April, a dedicated Working group from the United Nations Committee for the peaceful use of the space brought a trek set of Recommended principles for space source activities. In essence, these are rules to rule mining on the moon, asteroids And elsewhere in the space for elements that are rare here on earth.
When A space lawyer and co-founder of For all lunarchildA non -profit organization that focuses on protecting human heritage in space, I know that the moon could be the proven ground for the evolution of humanity to be a species that lives and thrives on more than one planet. However, this new limit raises complex legal questions.
Space, legal
The space – including the moon – from a legal perspective, is a unique domain without a direct terrestrial equivalent. It is not, just like the high seas, the ‘Common heritage of humanity“It is also not an area, such as Antarctica, where commercial mining is forbidden.
Instead, the 1967 Outer Space Treaty– Signed by more than 115 countries, including China, Russia and the United States –that sets that The exploration and use of space are the ‘province of all people’. That means that no country can claim territory in space, and all have the right Access to all areas of the moon And other heavenly bodies freely.
The fact that, in accordance with Article II of the Convention, a country cannot claim territory in space, known as the non -adjustment principle, suggests to some that ownership of real estate in the room is prohibited.
Can this be true? If you move grandchildren to Mars, will they never have a house? How can a company protect its investment in a moon mine if it has to be freely accessible to everyone? What happens, as it will inevitably do, when two robbers race to a certain area on the moon surface Known to organize valuable water ice? Does the winner take everything?
It appears that the Outer Space Treaty offers a leeway. Article IX requires that countries show ‘appropriate esteem’ for the corresponding interests of others. It is a legally vague standard, although the Permanent Court of Arbitration has suggested that the necessary respect means that you easily pay attention to what is reasonable under the circumstances.
First mover advantage – it’s a race
The broad language of the treaty stimulates a race to the moon. The first entity for each place will have a unilateral chance to determine what is legally ‘reasonable’. For example, creating an exaggerated large buffer zone around equipment can be justified to reduce possible damage moon fabric.
In addition, Article XII of the Outer Space treaty presupposes that there will be installations, such as bases or mining activities, on the Moon. In contrast to the free access principle, the Convention suggests that access to do so unless the owner gives permission to introduce.
Both paths within the treaty would enable the first person to reach the desired place on the moon to keep others out. The UN -Principles in their current form Don’t tackle these meshes.
The design -VN principles released in April Mirror and are limited by the language of the Treaty of Space. This tension between free access and the need to protect – most easily by banning access – has not been resolved. And the clock taps.
The vulnerable legacy of the moon
The US Artemis program is intended to bring people back to the Moon by 2028, China has plans for human return by 2030 and in the intervening years, More than 100 robot -like Missions are planned by both countries and private industry. For the most part, these missions are all on their way to the same Sweet Spot: the Moon South Pole. Here, peaks of eternal light and deep craters Contains water ice Promise the best mining, science and research options.
In this excitement it is easy to forget that people already have a deep history of lunar survey. Spread on the moon surface are artifacts that show the technological progress of humanity.
Staring at ours after centuries Neighe heavenly neighbor with fascinationIn 1959 the Soviet spacecraft, Luna 2the first object made by man to influence another heavenly body. Ten years later two people, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrinbecame the first to set foot on another heavenly body.
More recently, in 2019, China’s Chang’e 4 reached the first soft landing on the distant side of the moon. And in 2023, India’s Chandrayan-3 was the first to successfully land in the vicinity of the South Pole of the Maan.
These sites commemorate the baby of humanity who step our home planet and easily the Definition of the United Nations of terrestrial heritage, because they are so “exceptional to transcend national boundaries and to be of general interest for the current and future generations of all humanity.”
The international community works to protect such locations on earth, but those protection protocols do not extend to space.
The more 115 other locations on the moon Those proof of human activity are frozen over time without breaking out weather, animal or human activity. But this can change. A single wandering spacecraft or robber can kick sanding, boat prints or harmful artifacts.
Protection and the Outer Space Convention
In 2011, NASA recommended Setting up buffer or safety zones, up to 1.2 miles (2 kilometers) to protect certain locations with American artifacts.
Because it understood that outright exclusion violates the Outer Space Treaty, NASA has issued these recommendations as voluntary guidelines. Nevertheless safety zone Concept, essentially managing access to and activities around specific areas, can be a practical tool for protecting heritage sites. They could act as a starting point to find a balance between protection and access.
One hundred and sixty countries have agreed, via the 1972 World Heritage ConventionAbout the importance of recognizing and protecting cultural heritage of universal value found here on earth.
Building on this agreement, the international community may require specific access protocols – such as a permit process, activity restrictions, shared access rules, monitoring and other operating elements – for heritage sites on the Moon. If accepted, these protective measures for heritage sites can also work as a template for scientific and operational locations. This would create a consistent framework that avoids the perception of claiming territory.
At the moment, the Draft UN principles released in April 2025 Do not immediately tackle the opposite concepts of access and protection. Instead, they postpone to Article I of the Outer Space Treaty and confirm that everyone has free access to all areas of the moon and other heavenly bodies.
As more countries and companies compete to reach the Moon, a clear legal framework can guide them to prevent conflicts and to maintain historical sites. The design -VN principles show that the international community is ready to investigate what this framework could look like.
Michelle LD Hanlon is a professor in aerial and space legislation on the University of Mississippi.
This article has been re -published from The conversation Under a Creative Commons license. Read the Original article.
#law #buying #real #estate #protecting #sites #moon