Russia launched its first moon-landing spacecraft in 47 years on August 11 amid a race by major powers including the US, China and India to discover more about the elements held on the Earth’s only natural satellite. Unfortunately the Luna-25 lander was lost when it crashed into the moon on Sunday.
Russia said it would launch further lunar missions and then explore the possibility of a joint Russia-China crewed mission and even a lunar base. NASA has spoken about a “lunar gold rush” and explored the potential of moon mining.
Why are major powers so interested in what is up there?
Photo: AP 照片：美聯社
THE MOON
The moon, which is 384,400km from our planet, moderates the Earth’s wobble on its axis, which ensures a more stable climate. It also causes tides in the world’s oceans.
Current thinking is that it was formed when a massive object collided with Earth about 4.5 billion years ago and that the debris from the collision came together to form the moon.
Photo: Reuters 照片：路透
Surface temperatures vary. In full sun they rise to 127 degrees Celsius, while in darkness they plummet to about minus-173 degrees Celsius. The moon’s exosphere does not give protection against radiation from the sun.
WATER
The first definitive discovery of water on the moon was made in 2008 by the Indian mission Chandrayaan-1, which detected hydroxyl molecules spread across the lunar surface and concentrated at the poles, according to NASA.
Photo: Reuters 照片：路透
Water is crucial for human life and can also be a source of hydrogen and oxygen, which can be used for rocket fuel.
HELIUM-3
Helium-3 is an isotope of helium that is rare on Earth, but NASA says there are estimates of a million tonnes of it on the moon.
Photo: AFP 照片：法新社
This isotope could provide nuclear energy in a fusion reactor, but since it is not radioactive, it would not produce dangerous waste, according to the European Space Agency.
RARE EARTH METALS
Rare earth metals — used in smartphones, computers and advanced technologies — are present on the moon, including scandium, yttrium and the 15 lanthanides, according to research by Boeing.
HOW WOULD MOON MINING WORK?
It is not entirely clear. Some sort of infrastructure would have to be established on the moon. The conditions of the moon mean that robots would have to do most of the hard work, though water on the moon would allow for long-term human presence.
WHAT IS THE LAW?
The law is unclear and full of gaps. The United Nations 1966 Outer Space Treaty says that no nation can claim sovereignty over the moon — or other celestial bodies — and that the exploration of space should be carried out for the benefit of all countries.
However, lawyers say it is unclear whether a private entity could claim sovereignty over a part of the moon.
“Space mining is subject to relatively little existing policy or governance, despite these potentially high stakes,” the RAND Corporation said in a blog last year.
The 1979 Moon Agreement states that no part of the moon “shall become property of any state, international, intergovernmental or non-governmental organization, national organization or non-governmental entity or of any natural person.” The agreement has not been ratified by any major space power.
The US in 2020 announced the Artemis Accords, named after NASA’s Artemis moon program, seeking to build on existing international space law by establishing “safety zones” on the moon. Russia and China have not joined the accords.
(Reuters)
俄國在8月11日發射了47年來第一艘登月太空船「月球25號」（但不幸在上週日墜毀月球而失聯），美國、中國和印度等主要大國同時也正競相在這地球唯一的天然衛星探勘它所蘊藏的元素。
俄國表示，將展開進一步的月球任務，然後探索俄中聯合載人任務，甚至建立月球基地之可能性。美國太空總署（NASA）曾討論過「月球淘金熱」，研究月球採礦的潛力。
為何大國對天上的月亮如此感興趣？
月球
月球距地球384,400公里，它可以緩和地球自轉軸的搖晃，因而確保氣候更加穩定。它也會在全球海洋造成潮汐。
目前的觀點認為，它是在大約45億年前一個巨大物體與地球相撞時形成的，碰撞所產生的碎片聚集在一起形成了月球。
月球上的溫度有很大的不同：在陽光充足的情況下，溫度會升至攝氏127度，在黑暗中，溫度則會驟降至約攝氏零下173度。月球的散逸層無法防護太陽輻射的傷害。
水
美國太空總署表示，第一次確定在月球上發現水，是2008年印度的「月船1號」任務，該任務檢測到羥基〔又稱氫氧基〕分子遍布月球表面，且集中在兩極。
水對人類生命至關重要，也可成為氫和氧的來源，而氫和氧可以用作火箭燃料。
氦-3
氦-3是地球上罕見的氦同位素，而NASA表示，月球上估計有100萬噸這種同位素。
據歐洲太空總署稱，這種同位素可以在核融合反應器中提供核能，但由於它不具放射性，因此不會產生危險的廢料。
稀土金屬
據波音公司研究，月球上有稀土金屬—可用於智慧型手機、電腦與先進科技—包括鈧、釔及15種鑭系元素。
月球採礦如何進行？
目前並不完全清楚。必須在月球上建立某種基礎設施。月球上的條件意味大部分的苦差事必須由機器人來完成，儘管月球上的水可讓人類長期生存。
有何法律規範？
法律並不明確且充滿漏洞。聯合國1966年《外太空條約》規定，任何國家都不能對月球或其他天體主張擁有主權，太空探索的開展應符合所有國家的利益。
但律師表示，目前尚不清楚私人公司是否可以對月球的一部分主張主權。
美國智庫蘭德公司去年在其部落格表示：「儘管太空採礦的潛在風險很高，但它受現有政策或治理的約束相對較少」。
1979年的《月球協定》規定，月球任何部分「均不得成為任何國家、國際政府間或非政府組織、國家組織或非政府實體或任何自然人之財產」。
該協議尚未得到任何主要太空強國的批准。
美國在2020年宣布了《阿提米絲協議》（以NASA的阿提米絲月球計畫命名），尋求在現有國際太空法的基礎上，在月球上建立「安全區」。俄國和中國尚未加入該協議。
（台北時報林俐凱編譯）
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