Log In | Register
His company, which calls itself MoonEx, was awarded a contract as part of NASA's $10 million Innovative Lunar Demonstration Data (ILDD) program, and is shooting for the $30 million Google Lunar X Prize as well. Jain believes the NASA contract will allow his company to start mining operations on the moon, something he says MoonEx can do as soon as 2013.
Get ready people, We're going back to the Moon
Seeded on Mon Feb 13, 2012 1:32 AM EST
Article Source: FOXNews.com
- Enjoy this article? Help vote it up the 'Vine.
- Public Discussion (13)
While I have no problem with the private sector capitalizing on space travel and mining, I do have a problem with this;
"Perpetual ownership of private or government assets in space or on other bodies is a well defined, documented and practiced aspect of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty,” explained company CEO Bob Richards in a recent blog post."
This does not bode well for anyone and I foresee international conflicts arsing from it.
- 1 vote
#1 - Mon Feb 13, 2012 4:20 AM ESTEconomic theory dictates that without the concept of private property, economic activity ceases to exist.
#2 - Mon Feb 13, 2012 8:58 AM ESTI'm not saying those whom pioneer space industry should not be more than adequately compensated, it's this "Perpetual ownership" that I see as a problem.
- 1 vote
#3 - Mon Feb 13, 2012 11:40 AM ESTMaybe so,.. I'm sure that there is some legal framework that needs to be hammered out. We can't have everyone planting sovereign flags on every piece of floating rock in the solar system. [and beyond] (i.e. like the Arctic floor,(Russia) and the South China Sea (China) and the Moon (USA))
- 1 vote
Stock in Helium 3 mining, BUY!!
- 2 votes
#4 - Mon Feb 13, 2012 10:29 PM ESTMining the Moon
Lab experiments suggest that future fusion reactors could use helium-3 gathered from the moon.
NASA's Vision for Space Exploration has U.S. astronauts scheduled to be back on the moon in 2020 and permanently staffing a base there by 2024. While the U.S. space agency has neither announced nor denied any desire to mine helium-3, it has nevertheless placed advocates of mining He3 in influential positions. http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/19296/
- 1 vote
Yes, it may be a good 20 or so years, until we see fusion in our every day lives, and if developed may not need He-3. But most likely will need it, and as an industry will be huge.
There is nothing better to encourage lunar colonization than big profits.
- 2 votes
If the He3 forms of fusion is found to be workable AND practical, then we can start planning to mine it. Until then, and without any other viable use for exploiting the resources on the moon, it is just a waste of money, for a material that we don't know if it will ever be useful..
I am very much a space nut, but the only way we are really going to get the general public on board is if we can prove that there is a viable use for that investment, because it will take huge amounts of public funding. Coming up with hypothetical uses to justify that investment is just going to cause people to turn against it even if another future viable industry evolves.
- 1 vote
hmmm he says that his company can start lunar mining operations in 2013? next year? Without changes in the outer space treaty?
WOW!!!!
- 1 vote
#6 - Tue Feb 14, 2012 11:30 AM ESTYou're in Easy Mode. If you prefer, you can use XHTML Mode instead. |
As a new user, you may notice a few temporary content restrictions. Click here for more info.
