Trump signs executive order to support moon mining, tap asteroid resources

[armyspaceops]

Forget about wars being started over this, removing anything from the moon on the scale of mining it is tantamount to the destruction of the Earth. even elementary school children know that the moon's gravitational effects cause the tides of the oceans and not to mention other oddities of the Earth and by removing substantial mass from the moon will alter its orbit and also the tides of the oceans on the Earth. I can't really believe that any scientist had approved this ridiculous idea. Without the orbit of the moon, we could drastically change our own orbit around the sun and could in the end in time cause the moon to crash into the sun or worse the Earth.

Ah Virgil2U, the Moon weighs 1.6x10^23 lbs, so I don't think we'll be making a dent in that. Good to be concerned though.

 

[Catastrophe]

"When global warming and limits of resources on Earth bring society to the crisis point? As pointed out by O'Neill, and Ben Bova in 'The High Road.'"

And some still seem to think that Homo sapiens sapiens is an intelligent species with some sort of bright future?

Cat

 

[Vidvuds]

President Kennedy
Sept. 20, 1963
address to the UN General Assembly

Finally, in a field where the United States and the Soviet Union have a special capacity--in the field of space--there is room for new cooperation, for further joint efforts in the regulation and exploration of space. I include among these possibilities a joint expedition to the moon. Space offers no problems of sovereignty; by resolution of this Assembly, the members of the United Nations have foresworn any claim to territorial rights in outer space or on celestial bodies, and declared that international law and the United Nations Charter will apply. Why, therefore, should man's first flight to the moon be a matter of national competition? Why should the United States and the Soviet Union, in preparing for such expeditions, become involved in immense duplications of research, construction, and expenditure? Surely we should explore whether the scientists and astronauts of our two countries--indeed of all the world--cannot work together in the conquest of space, sending someday in this decade to the moon not the representatives of a single nation, but the representatives of all of our countries. ....

The effort to improve the conditions of man, however, is not a task for the few. It is the task of all nations--acting alone, acting in groups, acting in the United Nations, for plague and pestilence, and plunder and pollution, the hazards of nature, and the hunger of children are the foes of every nation. The earth, the sea, and the air are the concern of every nation. And science, technology, and education can be the ally of every nation.

Never before has man had such capacity to control his own environment, to end thirst and hunger, to conquer poverty and disease, to banish illiteracy and massive human misery. We have the power to make this the best generation of mankind in the history of the world--or to make it the last.

Thank you for this post! For the past two years the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space has been working on Space Agenda 2030 whose theme is " space as the driver of sustainable development" sometimes also stated as "Space - a driver for peace." Kennedy's words fit well with Space Agenda 2030. Industrial development of the Moon and asteroids can enable sustainable development for humanity for centuries to come. I am a member of the International Lunar Decade Working Group (ILDWG). This speech by Kennedy fits very well with the idea of the International Lunar Decade. While the Moon Treaty was approved by the General Assembly 14 years after Kennedy's speech the spirit of this speech imbues the Moon Treaty approved in December 1979 and also fits closely with the Outer Space Treaty approved in 1967.
The present goal of the ILDWG is to have the International Lunar Decade approved as part of the UN Space Agenda 2030.

 

[Vidvuds]

Nothing in that treaty bans the exploitation of celestial bodies, only that one nation cannot came sovereign rights over it. Exploitation of minerals etc. may occur even if it causes bruised snowflakes a serious case of btthurt!

The Moon Treaty is fully consistent with the Outer Space Treaty with the added element that it provides for the development of rules to govern the extraction and use of lunar resources. There are straightforward principles stated in Article 11, par. 7 of the Treaty for the formulation of the rules. Par. 7, (c) is explicit in the encouragement of profitable ventures with returns that encourage greater future opportunity: " 11.7
7. The main purposes of the international regime to be established shall include:
(a) The orderly and safe development of the natural resources of the moon;
(b) The rational management of those resources;
(c) The expansion of opportunities in the use of those resources;

The Moon Treaty also defines a clear process to negotiate the rules to govern use of outer space resources. At present, it is the only international agreement which defines how international agreed to rules to govern use of outer space resources are to be negotiated. It would be foolish to abandon the Moon Treaty because at this point no other alternative is available.