The escalating space race between China and the U.S. has attracted the attention of a United Nations working group and civil society activists.
The UN Committee on the Peaceful Use of Outer Space, a meeting held by the Office for Outer Space Affairs, is currently holding its 62nd legal subcommittee meeting in Vienna to write new rules regarding how space-faring powers deal with each other in space.
As part of the meeting on the 27th, a group of researchers launched a first-of-its-kind handbook that offers an overview of key policy areas relating to space exploration and development. This includes conflict resolution, cargo declaration, natural resource management, taxation and benefit sharing.
The message is that there are questions that need to be resolved and which demand the attention of those in both government and the private sector, as well as the public.
The document is the result of a project called ‘Moon Dialogs’. Contributors include those from the Open Lunar Foundation, Secure World Foundation, For All Moonkind, the European Space Agency, MIT, the Space Generation Advisory Council, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute and others.
“As private companies and governments around the world are increasingly turning their attention to the Moon, there is a pressing need to establish clear policies and guidelines that can ensure the responsible and sustainable use of the lunar environment,” says Héloïse Vertadier, Project Lead of the Lunar Policy Handbook and cofounder of the Breaking Ground Lunar Resources Trust.
“Responsible and sustainable lunar activities can only be achieved through collaboration and adherence to shared principles and guidelines.”
Adding context to the call, there is increasing discussion of potential antagonism between major space faring powers, such as the US and China, who both seek to establish a permanent presence on the Moon in the coming decade.
Furthermore, international governments have recently signed a long overdue agreement on the use of Earth’s oceans, highlighting a strong parallel with the issues on the horizon in the space sector and the need to advance policy discussions quickly.
“In the next few years, humankind will be returning to the Moon in more diverse, more ambitious, and more complex and advanced ways than any past missions,” said Chris Johnson, Space Law Advisor for the Secure World Foundation. “It’s crucial that we don’t go about it without thinking through and applying our values, principles, and laws.”
“Can we preserve peace and cooperation on the Moon, or will it be just another place where the most powerful governments compete?”
Activity in space has been ramping up rapidly in the last few years, and lunar activity in particular has become a key focus. In the next year alone the USA, Russia, Japan, Spain, Germany, India, Canada and Mexico all have missions or payloads heading to the Moon.
For those behind the handbook, that makes it critical to act now to ensure peaceful cooperation and sustainability.
“It is essential to balance the benefits of lunar exploration and development with the need to preserve the integrity of the lunar environment and ensure that all lunar activities are conducted in a cooperative, sustainable, and responsible manner for the benefit of all,” said Harshita Khera, editor of the handbook and Operations Coordinator for the Open Lunar Foundation.
“Nations have come together in the past to lay down these initial frameworks and now we have an opportunity, with the renewed interest in lunar exploration, to enable clarity.“
Together with ambiguities in the application of the now decades old Outer Space Treaty, that clarity, and a place from which to build, is something the group hopes to provide.
“Until now there has been nothing like the Lunar Policy Handbook,” said Antonino Salmeri, Director of the Lunar Policy Platform. “This is the first guide to the nascent realm of Lunar governance and I trust it will be highly instrumental in enabling the development of policies and standards of behavior for safe and sustainable lunar activities.”
