The conquest of space is not just a question of exploration and curiosity. The other planets and moons in the Solar System hold many secrets, but above all they constitute potential additional natural resources. In this context, the United States – aware of what the Moon and other celestial objects could bring us – has just signed a new decree intended to support the exploitation of these resources.
On Monday April 6, Donald Trump signed a document to engage American policy in the exploitation of extraterrestrial resources. The White House believes that ice and lunar mineral resources could allow the United States to establish a long-term human presence on our natural satellite.
Small historical reminder of the laws of space
Recall that everything related to the exploration and use of outer space – including lunar soil – was defined in the Space Treaty, signed by the United States, the United Kingdom, United and the Soviet Union on January 27, 1967 (France signed it in August 1970). This official document made it possible to lay the legal foundations for space exploration in a relatively tense political context (at the height of the Cold War). The text provides in particular for freedom of access by States to outer space, without one of them being able to appropriate it. And everyone must assist astronauts, whatever their nationality.
A few years later, in 1979, the Treaty of the Moon followed. Ratified by fifteen countries, it stipulates in particular – like the Space Treaty – that the Moon can only be used for peaceful purposes and that the non-scientific use of its resources must be governed by a regulatory framework international. Namely, the United States, like the other major nations with an autonomous manned space flight program, active or in development, did not sign this treaty at the time.
Then, in 2015, the United States Congress passed a law, dubbed SPACE Act, explicitly authorizing American businesses and citizens to explore and exploit space resources for commercial purposes. Note that this law includes water and minerals, but excludes life. In other words, the 1967 international space treaty clearly seems to have been overlooked …
From the Moon to Mars
With this new decree, the United States goes a step further in its “appropriation” of the Moon. They do not see space as a “global common good” and simply see the Moon as an opportunity for further mining. The document, entitled Encouraging International Support for the Recovery and Use of Space Resources (“Encouraging international support for the recovery and use of space resources”) has been under preparation for about a year, according to a senior official in the United States administration.
Its creation was notably motivated by the preparation of the mission Artemis from NASA, whose objective is to bring a crew to lunar soil by 2024, to establish a lasting human presence by 2028. The United States is indeed in full negotiations with international partners to accelerate development of the project and wanted to clarify their position regarding the activities they plan to carry out.
” As America prepares to bring back the Hlike on the Moon and to go to Mars, this decree establishes the American policy of recovery and use of space resources, such as water and certain minerals, in order to encourage the commercial development of space Said Scott Pace, executive secretary of the U.S. National Space Council.
On the same subject : Astronauts Explain Why Man Still Hasn’t Returned to the Moon
But Artemis would be just a “taste” of a far more distant colonization. NASA and its partners aim to colonize Mars in the 2030s. The mission Artemis will actually be an opportunity to learn how to guide and support astronauts, far away in space and over a long period of time.
President Donald Trump brandishes the “Space Policy Directive – 1” after signing it at a ceremony with NASA astronauts Peggy Whitson, Buzz Aldrin and Jack Schmitt in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, the December 11, 2017 in Washington DC. Credits: Chip Somodevilla / Getty
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Originally, the mission was scheduled to launch in 2028, but the President – who has always showed a real interest in space exploration and the opportunities it could take – made the project move forward four years. In December 2017, he said when referring to the Apollo 17 mission: ” Exactly 45 years ago, almost to the minute, Jack [Schmitt] became one of the last Americans to land on the Moon. Today, we promise that it will not be the last “
Latest directive signed by Trump: the Space Policy Directive – 4, in February 2019, which calls for the creation of the United States space force, the first new American military branch since the creation of the Air Force in 1947.
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