Trump Signs Executive Order To Support Moon Mining, Tap Asteroid Resources (space.com) 218
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Space.com: President Donald Trump signed an executive order today (April 6) establishing U.S. policy on the exploitation of off-Earth resources. That policy stresses that the current regulatory regime -- notably, the 1967 Outer Space Treaty -- allows the use of such resources. This view has long held sway in U.S. government circles. For example, the United States, like the other major spacefaring nations, has not signed the 1979 Moon Treaty, which stipulates that non-scientific use of space resources be governed by an international regulatory framework. And in 2015, Congress passed a law explicitly allowing American companies and citizens to use moon and asteroid resources.
The new executive order makes things even more official, stressing that the United States does not view space as a "global commons" and sees a clear path to off-Earth mining, without the need for further international treaty-level agreements. The executive order, called "Encouraging International Support for the Recovery and Use of Space Resources," has been in the works for about a year, a senior administration official said during a teleconference with reporters today. The order was prompted, at least in part, by a desire to clarify the United States' position as it negotiates with international partners to help advance NASA's Artemis program for crewed lunar exploration, the official added. (Engagement with international partners remains important, the official said.) "As America prepares to return humans to the moon and journey on to Mars, this executive order establishes U.S. policy toward the recovery and use of space resources, such as water and certain minerals, in order to encourage the commercial development of space," Scott Pace, deputy assistant to the president and executive secretary of the U.S. National Space Council, said in a statement today.
The new executive order makes things even more official, stressing that the United States does not view space as a "global commons" and sees a clear path to off-Earth mining, without the need for further international treaty-level agreements. The executive order, called "Encouraging International Support for the Recovery and Use of Space Resources," has been in the works for about a year, a senior administration official said during a teleconference with reporters today. The order was prompted, at least in part, by a desire to clarify the United States' position as it negotiates with international partners to help advance NASA's Artemis program for crewed lunar exploration, the official added. (Engagement with international partners remains important, the official said.) "As America prepares to return humans to the moon and journey on to Mars, this executive order establishes U.S. policy toward the recovery and use of space resources, such as water and certain minerals, in order to encourage the commercial development of space," Scott Pace, deputy assistant to the president and executive secretary of the U.S. National Space Council, said in a statement today.
Nothign new here. (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, not any long anymore, now. (Score:5, Insightful)
The US is rapidly going downwards, especially in terms of global power.
Before, you either had to sell it onthe US's terms, or die. Then China came, and said "Alright, I'll buy it at a higher price.". This is why the oil price went "up" (actually normalized).
And they actually built Africa some infrastructure in exchange for their exploitation.
BRICS expanded on that second world of power.
And now that the UK leaves the EU, the EU too is free to oppose the US, without constant vetoing by and special treatment for the US lapdog. Which you can see, with them actually countering US punitive tariffs with their own ones.
And frankly, Trump played a key role in this lately. He isn't taken serioulsy, and neither is the US leadership. (And believe me, we'd love to see real statesman at the helm. Somebody one can actually look up to.)
I just hope this all goes well for the American citizens, when the tipping point is reached.
With the way the Coronavirus was treated, and with the experience that after W. Bush it didn't get better, but a charismatic one actually mostly kept the status quo, to be succeeded by an even worse one, ... it's looking pretty grim, ... but not hopeless.
The problem is: A little bit of Sanders/Warren would do good, ... but only a *little* bit, not the whole package at once! If somebody is about to die of thirst, drowning him in a lake won't do him any good either. Just spice things up with a little humanity and teamwork. You know, being social, not social*ist*, keeping capital, witout staying capital*ist*. Being nice to your fellow cititens, instead of "everyone for himself and fuck all the others". :/
Oh well, who am I talking to.
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A little bit of Sanders/Warren would do good, ... but only a *little* bit, not the whole package at once!
I wouldn't be too worried about that. Congress has enough infighting to temper anything too extreme. And neither of them would try to subvert the office and try to abuse their position. I'll take someone with extreme views and only moderate influence any day of the week.
Re:Yeah, not any long anymore, now. (Score:5, Insightful)
A little bit of Sanders/Warren would do good, ... but only a *little* bit, not the whole package at once!
I wouldn't be too worried about that. Congress has enough infighting to temper anything too extreme. And neither of them would try to subvert the office and try to abuse their position. I'll take someone with extreme views and only moderate influence any day of the week.
The Byzantine empire went down hill largely because its rulers were so busy stabbing each other in the back and stirring up useless internal conflict that it didn't have the strength or the time to deal with external threats. Unless something changes quite radically the American Enpire may very well go the same way.
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The US isn't really going downhill, at least not economically. What's happening is that the rest of the world is catching up.
Europe got pounded in the world wars. The US and UK were essentially identical in terms of GDP / capita up until 1941. Then the US kept growing and the UK, along with the rest of Europe, had a period of stunted growth because, well, a lot of stuff got destroyed. That set them behind a decade or so. Eastern Europe had another massive contraction in 1989 after the Soviet Union collapsed
Relative is what matters (Score:3)
The US isn't really going downhill, at least not economically. What's happening is that the rest of the world is catching up.
Yes, but it is the relative position of countries that matter when it comes to exercising power. In the past, the US has used this soft power to coerce other countries into doing what it wants. With the playfield becoming far more level the US's influence is rapidly waning. This is eventually going to have major impacts in the US.
The US has managed to ignore social welfare because its economy was booming and its poorer citizens could look at their counterparts in other countries and think they were stil
Re: Yeah, not any long anymore, now. (Score:2)
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Facts don't support how you feel about the topic. Compare and contrast international approval ratings for the Trump and Obama administrations...
I.e. listen to these facts about feelings!
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(virtual +1)
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And I know I'm biased. Do you recognize your own? Are you correctly evaluating the facts, or are you mistaking being liked for being respected?
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Obama was criticized for his "World Apology Tour". Trump was criticized for demanding that European nations live up to their own promises in supporting NATO.
Which one did the Europeans like more? Which one was the President that people for AMERICANS liked more?
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American Conservatives attack their neighbours and are in favour of dictators
I take it you consider Obama a conservative as well? (I tend to.) He and Clinton supported the coup in Honduras, attempted coups in both Venezuela and Bolivia, put actual Nazis in power in Ukraine, and destroyed every secular government in the Middle East except Syria and Tunisia (not sure how they missed that one). So far Rump has only managed to carry out a coup in Bolivia and make the Venezuelan people even more miserable.
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Shit, dude. Put down the Russian talking points. It makes sound even more demented than your comment suggests.
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I've noticed a distinct trend for American liberals to claim that the world is looking down on us
I mean, for Bush Jr. and Trump at least, this is to be expected.
The philosophy is basically 'We are America, we can do what we want and not care about trying for consensus'. Naturally this is going to inspire contempt in countries that want to work together.
If you try to make the point 'other countries don't matter as much', that could be consistent, but it is strange to pretend that other countries are perfectly happy to have their interests dismissed so that we may have what we want.
Just as it would be s
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That and it is an executive order. And it will take more than 5 years (assuming Trump wins the next election) to get this in place. In which the next president will probably just stop it.
Mining the moon, for earthbound material is super expensive, and worse than just mining it on the bigger planet that we are on. However, if the goal was to get a moon base with the plan of building a spacecraft for additional long-range space travel. As it takes less energy to make it on the moon, then launch it into s
Re: Nothign new here. (Score:2)
As it should be.
I mean seriously, should resources be in the hands of those who (through historical conquest or simple accident) happen to be standing atop them today? Or should they go to those who are best able to use them?
By your logic, basically North America should have remained under the control of a bunch of quasi-stone age tribes who still hadn't figured out the wheel or the written word (to say nothing of medicine), practiced human sacrifice, engaged to some degree in cannibalism as of the 15th ce
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I know you're trolling, but all the hate USA receives from various countries around the world is an effect, not a cause. I suggest you find out what the cause it.
Re: Nothign new here. (Score:2)
I suggest you find out what the cause it.
Most are surely valid; all are entirely orthogonal to the matter of space-based resource 'E&E' (exploration and extraction).
Of course, if people still insist on bitching about it, there's always the option of carving a giant hand in the southern lunar surface with the middle finger extended...
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When those various countries choose to give up the scientific and economic benefits they've received from the US, then they might have a point. Otherwise it's much like "What Have the Romans Ever Done For Us?" [youtube.com]
Dude, funny as that scene is, it is also a very bad analogy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Now as soon as the army had no more people to slay or to plunder, because there remained none to be the objects of their fury (for they would not have spared any, had there remained any other work to be done), Caesar gave orders that they should now demolish the entire city and Temple...
-- Flavius Josephus
What remained of the population of the entire region was sold into slavery after the elderly had been
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Not a single sentence in your post is true, congratulations. Well, maybe the little bit of fluff in the last sentence isn't entirely incorrect, just mostly.
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Re:Nothign new here. (Score:4, Insightful)
This is the old line spouted by US politicians and yet it's never been proven and no evidence presented. "They hate us for our freedom" is how idiots identify themselves to others. That platitude is intended to indoctrinate the faithful rather than seeking to understand the hatred.
"How could they possibly want us out of their country, there must be some other reason!"
"We deposed their democratically elected leaders, so why are they rioting?"
"We're giving billions of dollars of arms to their repressive governments, can't we even get a thank you?"
Tiny Luxembourg already did that years ago (Score:2, Interesting)
https://space-agency.public.lu... [public.lu]
So not America first! :-)
It's all fun and profits until... (Score:5, Funny)
Good. (Score:2, Insightful)
"the United States does not view space as a "global commons""
I'm glad, because nothing would hinder humanity's eventual move into space more than that.
I know that those fond of massive governments and regulation love the idea of keeping, well, pretty much anything that doesn't have humans without humans forever.
Well, count me as one that is all for the unrestricted mining of the moon and asteroids and anywhere there isn't already identified life. (I'm not a pure libertarian, it should remain regulated for
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Global Commons = international waters.
Hardly in conflict with doing whatever you want up there.
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Easy to speak as one belonging to a power that CAN actually mine from space, if they wanted to.
This initiative will make the rich richer and the poor poorer. The few countries / conglomerates who have the capacity to perform space mining will move farther up, and the rest will fall behind even more.
So... "unrestricted" is actually restricted to an elite few.
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And I'm fine with that. It doesn't make sense to establish a legal framework before you know what the requirements/issues/conditions will be, and the only way to discover them is to move ahead and find out.
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Treaties mean nothing when resources are involved. Look at China and Russia, they care nothing about treaties, not the UN, not the WHO, not the nuclear treaties.
The only reason Antarctica hasn't been developed is because we have at least 100 more years worth of oil supplies in the US, Eastern Europe and the Middle East, which is why Russia and China are aggressively expanding towards oil and gas-rich areas both in Europe and Africa. It's extremely cold in Antarctica and going there is expensive and dangerou
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Look at China, Russia, and the US they care nothing about treaties, not the UN, not the WHO, not the nuclear treaties.
Fix that for you.
The moon belonds to America... (Score:4, Insightful)
"The moon belongs to America, and anxiously awaits the arrival of our astro-men. Will you be among them?"
Simpsons had it first.
Is there kind of ass (Score:2)
that Trump won't tap? First it's porn star ass, now as-teroids.
Maybe some of the coal miners from earth can go to work the mines on the moon!
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We're whalers on the moon,
We carry a harpoon.
But there ain't no whales
So we tell tall tales
And sing our whaling tune.
First come first served (Score:2)
I don't see anything that could go wrong (Score:3)
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Fuck you it's all about ME (Score:2)
Is this the next space race? (Score:3, Insightful)
The treaty on preventing any nation from laying claim to off Earth resources was nonsense. This was nothing more than the USA saying that they made their point on proving their ability to send people to other bodies in the solar system and bring them back. No other nation then or since has had the independent capability to colonize the moon.
Well, the USA just shed their self imposed shackles on this.
It looks like the race might be on to put people on the moon again. I find it difficult to believe any nation has the capability to send people to the moon and bring them back safely. The USA will do this again, all it needed was to decide to do it. You think the USA can't win this race again? Hold my Diet Pepsi.
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Bring them back safely? I'd go even if it was a one-way trip.
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Ditto. In a heartbeat....
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A few years ago some group was looking for volunteers for a one-way exploratory trip to Mars. They had so many respondents that they crashed the web server, repeatedly.
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Bring them back safely? I'd go even if it was a one-way trip.
You'd not be send. Extensive isolation followed by an existential crisis would make you an insane liability to any mission on the books.
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The space race was just a thinly veiled ICBM race with Russia (same tech basically). The patriotism that was created by the act was all very useful at the time too. Our excuse for going back to the Moon is likely the same. I really doubt that there would be a financial payoff from Moon mining.
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No, the goal of the moon was to set up a base before the Russians. Little did we know how much of the space and nuclear race was stolen from the US by some within the US government (a lot of the scientific community was enthralled with communism and was happy to help) that the entire Sputnik thing was basically a copy and extension of US ICBM tech.
On the other hand communism had made the USSR bankrupt to such an extent that Sputnik was basically as far as they were going to be able to go. We did to an exten
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I find it difficult to believe any nation has the capability to send people to the moon and bring them back safely. The USA will do this again, all it needed was to decide to do it. You think the USA can't win this race again? Hold my Diet Pepsi.
How would China possibly compete in this race with their better education, better average intelligence, un-toddlered leadership, respect for scientific fact, better work ethic, and more powerful economy? I really doubt this isn't going to be the American century. The only thing keeping America relevant is Silicon Valley, and that edge is slipping.
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How would China possibly compete in this race with their better education, better average intelligence, un-toddlered leadership, respect for scientific fact, better work ethic, and more powerful economy?
They will be unable to compete because of a pervasive lack of trust. A nation of free people has an inherent trust of others, because trust building is vital in a free economy. It takes trust in others to do their job to truly excel. The people of China know this but the government cannot tolerate it. The government cannot trust that the people building rockets, sending people into orbit, and so on, will not simply take over. The government does not trust its own people. The government knows that it r
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How would China possibly compete in this race with their better education, better average intelligence, un-toddlered leadership, respect for scientific fact, better work ethic, and more powerful economy?
The ironic thing is, your question is actually real because of your unintentionally sarcastic components. Not one of those things is true, you are buying into lies from a country built top to bottom on them. It's why in any real endeavor China has not managed to far that well, because they are entirely a p
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Mighty big talk about a nation that has been able to put no one in space for nine years, and has not been able to send a 13th person for a short stay on the Moon for nearly 50 years.
The U.S. has never had the ability to colonize (in any useful or valid sense of the word) the Moon. The longest stay on the Moon was just short of 75 hours.
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Well, the USA just shed their self imposed shackles on this.
Yep, Nation hell bent on raping the earth over oil appears to finally stop discriminating against the rest of the solar system. This should come as no surprise to anyone.
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the USA just shed their self imposed shackles on this.
If I'm not mistaken Reagan and both Bushes already said this, Rump is just parroting his far more competent predecessors.
I wonder... (Score:2)
Which resource is cheaper to mine in the moon and bring back, rather than mine locally in Earth?
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Re:I wonder... (Score:4, Informative)
Considering that the U.S. does not mine all of it's mineral resources due to regulation and areas being off limits. I would think that mining on the moon cost wise is probably is about the same. We still have the resources in the U.S., we just are not able to mine them. The moon though, the environmentalists have not gotten control of that area yet.
Mining what exactly though? What are you unable to mine on earth due to regulations that you can mine cheaper on the moon than buying from China or Australia or wherever?
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Mining what exactly though? What are you unable to mine on earth due to regulations that you can mine cheaper on the moon than buying from China or Australia or wherever?
That very much depends on the political situation both in the US and in China. The US's largest rare earths mine is closed because the Nuclear Regulatory Agency requires them to treat the thorium that occurs in the tailings as a radiological hazardous waste, even though it hasn't been concentrated any more than it was in the ore to begin with. The extra expense makes operating the mine a losing proposition, so it's idle. China currently sells rare earths globally, but if they ever decided not to, or to s
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This.
Shipping sheet aluminium from Luna to LEO is cheaper than shipping it from bottom of a 1g gravity well. And oxygen. Yeah, that aluminium oxide rock can provide both. Hell, once you separate the Al from the O2, not only can you ship it to LEO, you can use it as fuel for the rockets doing the shipping....
And then maybe we can expand ISS from a tiny ou
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And we better get to it, it has to be ready for aliens visitors in 2150 [youtube.com].
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I never understood that. Why would mining on the moon be any different than mining on earth? They're both floating in space, it's not rocket science!
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Depends on where you intend to use said resources, but it's a lot easier to collect helium-3 on the moon than to refine it on earth.
-jcr
That's a dangerous plan. Once you deplete the helium in the moon there won't be anything keeping it up in the sky.
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That is one of the most stupidest, dumbest thing I ever read about the moon and helium-3.
Good work, keep it up!
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Trump's ego.
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Moon rocks?
What is ownership? (Score:2)
Somewhat fundamentally, ownership is a concept. When is something yours? Obviously the cake is mine if I lick it. In the West - a plot of land was yours if it had a fence, and this was protected by the US regulatory framework. What protected the US regulatory framework, you ask? Guns and force.
Somewhat fundamentally, you have a country if you (a) declare that you are a country, and (b) no able and willing group stands against you.
If you take a moon-rock - it is YOURS until someone takes it. For as lon
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Property is theft.
—P. J. PROUDHON
Property is liberty.
—P. J. PROUDHON
Property is impossible.
—P. J. PROUDHON
Consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds.
—RALPH WALDO EMERSON
(Credit: The Illuminatus Trilogy)
Yay (Score:2)
Do we own the moon? I hereby claim Giordano Bruno crater and all mineral rights below and well as the space above it as my own.
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F it, actually I claim the entire Sea of Tranquility. Nasa owes me rent now dating back to 1969. I won't evict them during this pandemic, but expect the back rent when this is all over.
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Fuck you both, I claim the whole milky way galaxy.
Oh shit, wait, no! I'm allergic to dairy!!
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I think they'd be happy to bay back rent if you can get up there to get them the eviction notice.
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in (Score:2)
In before killer robots start taking hostages
so many things to undo once that idiot is gone (Score:4, Interesting)
But being global commons does not mean that we can not mine, etc. There was nothing in ratified treaties that prohibited that.
And if Trump really wants to get to the moon and fast, with our allies, he is going at it all wrong with this.
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What allies? The EU governments have been overrun by such bureaucracy, the EU is about to break up during this pandemic. The Chinese, without a European backbone pushing back for the last 2 decades are aggressively pursuing most of Asia and some of Africa that Japan, Israel and Saudi Arabia are seriously reconsidering their non-aggressive military stances. The UK has been talking austerity programs since 2002 leading up to Brexit and it's unclear whether their centrist government will even survive their slo
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Likewise, ABM and disarmament were being done and checked by Russia and until they broke, we did not.
So, no. you are full of shit about that.
How? (Score:2)
USA does not even have rockets to send astronauts in LEO, they will go to the moon with Russian rockets?
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Falcon 9 and ULA's Atlas V are both rated for humans. SpaceX is sending their Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon up in May with people on it.
The only sticky wicket for the Atlas V is the Boeing Starliner and Orion are the only capsules that can go on it (IIRC) and they're not ready yet.
By Jan 2021 we should have two capsules (SpaceX and Boeing) ready to go and ULA's already got the replacement for Atlas V and Delta IV in production with the Vulcan.
We have some options for getting people into LEO.
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ironic (Score:2)
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We already planted a flag. It's ours. Nevermind if there might be other flags up there.
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Actually congress passed a law explicitly stating that the flag plantings during the Apollo missions was not a claim of territory.
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Yeah, it was kind of a joke. Doesn't help that it's so easy for my comment to sound serious.
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We already planted a flag. It's ours. Nevermind if there might be other flags up there.
Some of 99.9% of ownership is being able to defend what you claim to own, the remaining 0.1% is your loud voiced proclamations of entitlement. By the time humans start mining the moon it will most probably be a race between the US and China and possibly some European multinational. Any claims by the US that the US owns the moon because the US planted a flag in it, will be met with a polite smile from the Chinese as they take 3 second break from ignoring you as they strip-mining the lunar surface.
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Which other nation had a person step up there and plant a flag?
Thought so...
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What do you think the elephants and grasshoppers will take for compensation? How do you go about paying the sponges and bacteria? And will we have to reimburse whatever life we encounter on Europa or Titan too?
That really is the dumbest thing I've seen on SlashDot all week.
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That's typically how nature works.
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