Mining On The Moon

The Night Watchman writes "This article on Yahoo News outlines the latest plans in the works for a handful of private companies to begin lunar mining missions within the next 10 years."

Er, who owns the moon?

[slittle]

Who says who owns what when it comes to non-Earth bodies? I always thought the Moon was nobody's property/territory due to some international treaty. Mining the thing kinda implies someone does have claim/authority to it... nobody ever asked me if I want a big hole in our Moon.

Getting the stuff home

[darthBear]

will not be as expensive as one may think. The trajectory would have to be calculated but thats what we have computers for. Basically put a cannon on the moon and shoot capsules filled with the stuff and a parachute to earth into a designated landing area. They would not even have to land that soft, just soft enough to avoid breaking apart.

Only problem is if you miss but given the distance it has to fall the chute could likely steer the payload clear of any problems.

Re:Who Owns the Moon?

[not-quite-rite]

The moon should be treated the same way as Antarctica. There is a general agreement between all parties that set up a station there as to borders and the regulations.

There would be a foundation to organise limits and rules for mining and also apply penalties to governments that do adhere to the regulations.

But in the same sense, should we treat the moon as a unique habitat? Would it require wilderness protection?

I know I would like to go there and enjoy the serenity.

So much serenity.....

Re:The Real Treasure Of The Moon...

[Graymalkin]

The catch-22 with a lunar launched mission is the cost of getting equipment from the moon. Even if you merely lauch modular facilities to process regolith to construct a spaceship with that still counts as cost for a Mars mission. Mining ice on the Moon for a chemical rocket is dumb anyhow, Helium-3 is much energetic of a fuel and will get a craft to Mars in a much shorter timeframe. Furthermore you need not use the fucking space shuttle to build a Mars ship, that would be absolutely ludicrous, the SST is one of the most expensive fucking launch systems in use currently. It'd be cheaper to build a magnetic linear accelerator up the side of a mountain and shoot stuff into orbit.

Where does science come in?

[Anonymous Coward]

The moon and other pieces of our solar system serve as a sort of journal. They tell us about the life and adventures of the solar system. If we let corporations rip them apart then we will lose valuable data.

Now, one might argue that companies will be nice and give data back to the scientists who allowed them up there in the first place, but that is quite impossible. If you are a corporation you're goal is to make as much money as possible. If you start revealing scientific data about your sites (density, chemical make-up, etc.), then you let the competition in on where to find the "gold-mines."

In the end, I think that corporate mining of our solar features will serve as an impediment of science, rather than an opportunity to get more data. You may disagree, but when Lunar Mining Corporation (lunminco) sues a group of scientists for infringing on their trade secrets I get "told ya so" rights.

Moon mining is immoral

[erroneus]

Let the protesting begin!

Strip-mining will be the preferred and obvious method. In fact, casting debris off in any direction as a method of disposal will most certainly occur. The obvious results will be that the appearance of the moon will change. It will not take long for that to happen either.

The surface changes would end up being very geometric in the sense that it would likely be in shapes based in straight lines and regular curvatures. From an Earth's eye perspective, the moon would end up looking more like the "Death Star" instead of the celestial body of romantic inspiration if has been since the dawn of man.

ANY change to the moon's surface will be a change for the worse. The moon as it is in its present form has been an object of romance, wonder and mystery. It has been the inspiration for so much of our world's culture and development. It's literally a part of our humanity. Now people are preparing to exploit one of the most significant objects in human history for a few bucks??? No. We don't need the moon's resources to badly.

I think it should be prevented.