Who Owns the Moon's Water? Future Moon Mining Missions May Face Legal Disputes
Would-be moon miners will need good lawyers if they want to keep the lunar resources they're harvesting, according to space policy experts. The Outer Space Treaty of 1967 appears to permit extraction of lunar water and other resources, but it's not clear who would own the materials once they're extracted. Not long after NASA confirmed the moon has plenty of water, scientists and entrepreneurs started hatching plans to harvest it, either for lunar colonists or for rocket fuel. There are plenty of ways to do it - you could microwave the lunar soil to turn the ice into water vapor, you could use robots to harvest frozen chunks of ice, and so on. Related ArticlesEvidence Shows the Moon May Hold 100 Times More Water Than Previously ThoughtInterview: NASA Scientist's Plan to Extract Moon Water Affordably Using MicrowavesA Lunar Rocket Designed To CrashTagsScience, Rebecca Boyle, craters, LCROSS, lunar base, lunar surface, lunar...