(... which is why marxist geographers - like me - stand by the idea of
the 'spatial fix', because when overaccumulation gets out of control on
Earth... well, the Moon and then Red Mars is next!... and, ahem, we know
this must be true because it's in the local Durban newspaper-rag, and,
as the US FAA confirms, “We recognise the private sector’s need to
protect its assets and personnel on the moon or on other celestial bodies.”)
* 4 Feb 2015
* The Mercury
* Irene Klotz
* Cape Canaveral, Florida
Developing enterprises on the moon
THE US government has taken a new, though preliminary, step to encourage
commercial development of the moon.
According to documents obtained, US companies can stake claims to lunar
territory through an existing licensing process for space launches.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), in a previously undisclosed
late-December letter to Bigelow Aerospace, said the agency intends to
“leverage the FAA’s existing launch licensing authority to encourage
private sector investments in space systems by ensuring that commercial
activities can be conducted on a non-interference basis”.
In other words, experts said, Bigelow could set up one of its proposed
inflatable habitats on the moon, and expect to have exclusive rights to
that territory – as well as related areas that might be tapped for
mining, exploration and other activities.
However, the FAA letter noted a concern flagged by the US State
Department that “the national regulatory framework, in its present form,
is illequipped to enable the US government to fulfil its obligations”
under a 1967 UN treaty, which, in part, governs activities on the moon.
The UN Outer Space Treaty, in part, requires countries to authorise and
supervise activities of non-government entities that are operating in
space, including the moon. It also bans nuclear weapons in space,
prohibits national claims to celestial bodies and stipulates that space
exploration and development should benefit all countries. “We didn’t
give (Bigelow Aerospace) a licence to land on the moon. We’re talking
about a payload review that would potentially be part of a future launch
licence request,” said the FAA letter’s author, George Nield.
“We recognise the private sector’s need to protect its assets and
personnel on the moon or on other celestial bodies,” the FAA wrote in
the December letter to Bigelow Aerospace. The company, based in Nevada,
is developing the inflatable space habitats. Bigelow requested the
policy statement from the FAA, which oversees commercial space
transportation in the US.
We recognise the private sector’s need to protect its assets and
personnel on the moon.
The letter was co-ordinated with US departments of State, Defence,
Commerce, as well as Nasa and other agencies involved in space operations.
It expands the FAA’s scope from launch licensing to US companies’
planned activities on the moon, a region currently governed only by the
nearly 50-year-old UN space treaty. But the letter also points to more
legal and diplomatic work that will have to be done to govern potential
commercial development of the moon or other extraterrestrial bodies.
“It’s very much a Wild West kind of mentality and approach right now,”
said John Thornton, the chief executive of privately owned Astrobotic, a
start-up lunar transportation and services firm competing in a $30
million (R347 million) Google-backed moon exploration XPrize contest.
Among the pending issues is lunar property and mineral rights, a topic
that was discussed and tabled in the 1970s in a sister UN proposal
called the Moon Treaty. It was signed by just nine countries, including
France, but not the US.
Bigelow Aerospace is expected to begin testing a space habitat aboard
the International Space Station this year.
The firm intends to then operate free-flying orbital outposts for paying
customers, including government agencies, research organisations,
businesses and even tourists. That would be followed by a series of
bases on the moon beginning around 2025, a project estimated to cost
about $12bn. – Reuters
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