The Moon is a shared heritage of humanity, but experts are concerned that with a significant legal void, powerful nations may compete for resources worth hundreds of billions of USD on this celestial body.
In 1966, the Luna 9 lander from the Soviet Union successfully landed on the Moon. This was the first human exploration device to achieve a soft landing on another celestial body.
Image provided by Intuitive Machines showing the Odysseus lander operations on the Moon, February 22, 2024. (Photo: AFP/TTXVN)
Three years later, the world witnessed the historic landing of three astronauts, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins, from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) aboard Apollo 11, making a “giant leap for mankind.”
Since the space race began in the early 1950s, over 75 successful missions to explore the Moon have been conducted.
Recently, China’s Chang’e-6 spacecraft departed from the Moon’s surface, bringing back samples collected from the far side of this fifth-largest natural satellite in the Solar System.
This is an unprecedented achievement in the history of human lunar exploration.
In August 2023, India became the fourth country in the world to land on the Moon, and it was the first nation to land an exploration vehicle at the Moon’s South Pole.
Experts suggest that the race to land on the Moon will continue to intensify, predicting that in the next decade, the world will witness many lunar exploration missions.
With advantages in distance, physical factors such as gravity, solar energy, and resources, the Moon is considered the “key” for countries to gain an advantage in near-Earth space.
The 1979 Moon Treaty states that no part of the Moon shall become the property of any nation, organization, or individual. In other words, it is a common heritage of humanity.
However, this treaty has not been ratified by any space-faring power. With such a significant legal void, powerful nations may compete for resources on the Moon.
On June 2, 2024, China’s Chang’e-6 landed on the dark side of the Moon, marking the first time in human history that samples were collected from this rarely explored region. (Source: THX/TTXVN)
It is estimated that the resource wealth on this satellite could be worth hundreds of billions of USD.
The Moon has many valuable resources and minerals, such as rare earth elements, Helium-3, platinum, palladium, rhodium, titanium…
Additionally, the South Pole of the Moon – believed to have water ice – is becoming a potential “refueling station” for nations. Water from ice can be extracted, and from water, oxygen gas can be separated.
Both are prerequisites that would allow humans to stay long-term on the Moon.
If countries can access this water ice, they will establish a “gas station” in space to serve as a “launching pad” for missions to other celestial bodies in the Solar System, such as Mars.
Progress on the journey to conquer the Moon will open new scientific discoveries, economic opportunities, and technological innovations, promising benefits for humanity and future generations.
However, experts have frequently warned about the risk of the Moon being “divided” among a few powers, or the risk of militarization, turning it into a military base or a site for producing and deploying dangerous weapons.
Meanwhile, due to many disagreements among the great powers, the United Nations Security Council has not been able to pass resolutions calling for a complete ban on the deployment of weapons in space to ensure the peaceful use of outer space.
Currently, the United States and China, the two leading powers in the field of space exploration, continue to push forward with major projects.
The United States is accelerating the Artemis program with the goal of returning humans to the Moon, with the Artemis II mission planned for late 2024.
The Odysseus lander of the United States orbits the Moon during the IM-1 mission on February 21, 2024. (Photo: AFP/TTXVN)
China is also making significant strides to land humans on the Moon before 2030.
Other countries such as the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, France, the United Arab Emirates, and Israel are also planning space exploration and lunar missions in the near future.
In this context, the question arises of how to ensure these activities are conducted safely and sustainably.
The first United Nations Conference on Sustainable Lunar Exploration recently took place in Vienna, Austria, attended by officials, industry representatives, scholars, astronauts, and leaders from many space agencies around the world.
The event aimed to help participants understand common approaches, complexities, and challenges of lunar activities, thus identifying the potential for global coordination – a fundamental requirement for sustainable lunar exploration activities in the future.
According to experts, countries need to adopt sustainable approaches to harnessing and conquering outer space, particularly the Moon.
First, they should develop environmentally friendly space mining technologies by prioritizing the use of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind energy.
Next, establishing international treaties for space debris management and collaborating to develop effective waste management technologies is essential.
Countries must also apply reasonable resource extraction measures to avoid depletion and environmental harm.
To ensure the peaceful use of space, the world needs to establish international regulations to prevent the use of weapons in space, stop the arms race, and the militarization of space; encourage international cooperation in space exploration for scientific and peaceful purposes; and utilize satellites and space technologies to address common challenges faced by humanity, such as climate change, natural disasters, and pandemics.
Another solution under consideration is to establish international regulations regarding the militarization of space, prohibiting the use of weapons of mass destruction, banning the testing of weapons, and deploying attacking weapon systems in space.
Alongside this, mechanisms must be established to monitor and verify compliance with international regulations concerning the militarization of space.
The Soyuz 2.1b rocket carrying the Luna-25 lunar probe was launched from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Far East of Russia on August 11, 2023. (Photo: AFP/TTXVN).
Experts believe that the first United Nations conference on sustainable lunar exploration is an important event marking a new step in international cooperation regarding space exploration in general and the Moon in particular.
The conference contributes to shaping how humanity will exploit and use lunar resources in the future, ensuring that this is done sustainably and responsibly, so that all activities of exploration and use of space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, serve the interests of all nations.
This groundbreaking event indicates that more and more countries agree on the need for consultation and coordination in lunar exploration, rather than “space racing” or divisions over space policy. All for a night sky forever sparkling with the shared Moon for future generations of Earth.
