Part of SpaceX's challenge is to show that 39A will not be damaged by Starship's novel liquid oxygen and methane fuel - a combination of propellants that NASA and U.S. "Because it’s also in their best interest to not have what is a pretty steady source of income for them become interrupted." "SpaceX is working with us on those things," said Lueders. Hardening the 39A pad and launching humans from pad 40 would both require agency approval. The International Space Station and Cospas-Sarsat are testaments to this.The company is also studying ways to "harden" 39A, or make the launchpad more resilient to both an explosive Starship accident and the immense forces emitted from a successful Starship liftoff, Lueders said. Historically, space has been a stabilizing influence for humanity because you have to work together in such a harsh environment otherwise things go wrong pretty quickly. To explore the Moon is to ask questions about the origin of Earth and humanity. And we need to recognize that the path should not be decided by just a handful of states. We also want to avoid the loss of scientific information or opportunities due to a lack of data sharing or reckless activities. For example, a rover may be driven close to another country's activities just to make a point concerning free access. What we may see without agreements is countries testing each other's limits in space, similar to the testing of claims of sovereignty in, say, seas on Earth. But such work takes time, and countries are racing to establish practices that might influence the outcome of that process. In contrast, a working group has been established at the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space to reach an international understanding of resource utilization on celestial bodies. But these have not been negotiated multilaterally. The United States has been promoting the Artemis Accords, a political commitment toward a particular vision for cooperation on the Moon-Canada is a signatory. The current corpus of international law applied to space, including the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, provides an important foundation, but is not able to answer these questions alone. And how are we going to address cultural and natural heritage? We also need to have conflict resolution protocols in place should two powerful groups want the same resource, or if a company discovers important scientific information that should be available publicly. However, the question then becomes, if you take something from space do you then own it? If someone picks up a moon rock, ice, or other resource, does that rock, resource, or even the information you learn from it, belong to that person? Having multilateral agreements that address these questions is crucial, preferably before we go. Putting a flag on the Moon or in space doesn't mean you own it. For example, you could harvest lunar ice and use it for radiation shielding, life support and fuel.Ī lunar presence will also open up science opportunities in orbit and on the surface, including detailed lunar chronology using surface samples and sites, which could provide information about the Earth's history in the Solar System. This program will also allow humans to learn how to extract and use resources in space, a requirement for a sustained human presence off Earth. An orbiting station will provide a connection between Earth and the Moon for more complex operations. And while there is experience from the Apollo missions 50 years ago, the goal is now to build a sustained human presence with critical support infrastructure. We have decades of experience operating in a low Earth orbit-but lunar operations are vastly different. One such effort is NASA's upcoming Artemis 1 launch, a three-part mission that starts with an upcoming unmanned launch and results in returning people to the lunar surface. There's a push to have a sustained presence on the Moon by many players, including the United States, China and Russia. Aaron Boley, a professor in UBC's department of physics and astronomy, discusses the mission's plans and why we need to sort out access and resource rights before we return to the lunar surface.
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