But in the past few decades,the moon has been transformed,in the minds of many,from a spectacular apparition,an untouchable,unreachable god that can block out the sun,into a chunk of undeveloped real estate.
InWho Owns the Moon?,British philosopher and relentless polymath A. C. Grayling argues that the treaties and conventions governing interplanetary property are woefully inadequate for dealing with what he sees as an inevitable cosmic land grab.
New Scientist magazine has already declared 2024 to be “The Year of The Moon”,with orbiters and landers from a slew of nations (and more to the point,corporations) arriving or being launched. Indeed,one private spacecraft called Odysseus from Intuitive Machines of Houston touched down on the lunar surface this week. None of them are just heading there to prove that it can be done. Apollo did that 55 years ago.
Once it was clear that America had beaten Russia to the moon,interest waned. The last three Apollo missions were cancelled,deemed politically pointless by a Congress trying to disentangle the US budget from the quagmire of Vietnam.
But sending a rocket to the moon is much cheaper today than in 1972,when Apollo 17 came back with the last load of rocks. In the ’60s,it was all about prestige. Grayling makes the point that in the 2020s,it’s about profit. And while he certainly isn’t the first to flag the possibility of a chaotic lunar land grab,he reminds us that the legal framework for lunar colonisation and commercial mineral extraction is less than robust.
The rulers of India and China still get a shot of political adrenaline when they get a toy car to roll around on the lunar surface,but these are only test drives for the main game,which falls into two parts. Firstly,establishing what’s out there,and most importantly,what it’s worth.