The Moon bears substantial natural resources which could be exploited in the future. Potential lunar resources may encompass process able materials such as volatiles and minerals, along with geologic structures such as lava tubes that together, might enable lunar habitation. The use of resources on the Moon may provide a means of reducing the cost and risk of lunar exploration and beyond. Solar power, oxygen, and metals are abundant resources on the Moon. Elements known to be present on the lunar surface include, among others, hydrogen (H), oxygen (O), Silicon (Si), iron (Fe), magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca), aluminum (Al), manganese (Mn) and titanium (Ti).
Published in Chapter:
Main Contents and Comment on the 1979 Moon Agreement of 1979
Copyright: © 2021
|Pages: 7
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-7998-7407-2.ch006
Abstract
This chapter explains the ratification, main contents, and prospect of the 1979 Moon Agreements. The Agreement Governing the Activities of States on the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, better known as the Moon Treaty or Moon Agreement, is a multilateral treaty that turns jurisdiction of all celestial bodies (including the orbits around such bodies) over to the participant countries. Thus, all activities would conform to international law, including the United Nations Charter. It has not been ratified by any state that engages in self-launched human spaceflight or has plans to do so (e.g., the United States, the larger part of the member states of the European Space Agency, Russia [former Soviet Union], People's Republic of China, and Japan). As of January 2019, 18 states are parties to the treaty. As the current Moon Agreement has emerged as a problem as the United States and other major powers are not joining it, many lawyers, professors, and scientists urged that the powers ratify it quickly.