The administration of US President Donald Trump has announced that a plan to mine for resources on the Moon is in the works. The administration has issued an Executive Order, and it is called “Encouraging International Support for the Recovery and Use of Space Resources,” addressing US policy on the use of resources and recovery of resources from Moon mining and asteroid mining.
President Donald J. Trump has given weight to the fact that the United States has committed to the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, a treaty that has set the ground rules for using resources available in the Outer Space for more than 5o years.
The Executive Order issued by the president is called the Artemis Accord and among its decisions its one to direct the Secretary of State to be in charge of the effort made by the US Government to conduct joint statements, multilateral international instruments and bilateral agreements with foreign states who have a similar position on the matter. This is meant to ensure successful and safe operation for the use and recovery of resources from outer space.
The Trump Administration and Moon Mining
A declaration coming from the US government also mentions that the private industry of the United States, but also the private sector of future collaborating countries stand to benefit from establishing a base for consistent international rules, allowing corporations, individuals and even the economy as a whole to reap the benefits of the economic sphere’s expansion of human activity beyond its current planetary borders.
The order rejects the 1979 Moon Treaty, which has never been ratified by the United States, Russia, or any of the other space-faring nations. It would require that space resources be governed by new international regulations that would be overseen by the United Nations.
A treaty that the president’s Executive Order has canceled is the 1979 Moon Treaty. The Moon Treaty on Moon mining has never been ratified by Russia, the US, or any other countries with interplanetary ambitions. The treaty states that the managing of new international rules on space resources to be performed under the supervision of the United Nations. So far, over 12,000 have enrolled to be astronauts in the Artemis program.
