In addition to the mineral resources on the earth, the United States has also set its sights on outer space.
In April this year, US President Trump signed an executive order encouraging US citizens to engage in commercial mining activities on the moon or other stars. Trump stated in the order that Americans have the right to conduct commercial exploration, mining and use of minerals in outer space. Outer space is not a global commons. The order emphasized that the United States has neither signed nor ratified the Moon Convention, and only 18 countries have signed the Convention.
In May, the Trump administration began drafting a legal blueprint for mining on the moon. The core content is that the U.S. government plans to conduct formal negotiations with countries that have "similar interests" in the development of lunar minerals, such as Canada, Japan, European countries, and the United Arab Emirates. The agreement will provide an international legal framework to determine the moons that companies will mine. Ownership of mineral resources. At the same time, a safety zone will be established around the future lunar base to prevent sabotage and interference by competing countries and companies. It is also worth noting that the United States excludes countries such as Russia and China from this framework.
In September, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) expressed its hope to purchase moon rocks to encourage companies to mine in space and to build a legal framework for the space dream. NASA bids for global prospectors, companies that can travel to the moon at their own expense can collect lunar soil or rock samples, but do not need to bring them back to Earth. This move means that an unprecedented rule has been set for moon mining, and NASA can one day collect ice, helium or other materials needed to help colonize the moon and even Mars in the future.
