The Moon is experiencing a new era of growth, driven by fresh scientific discoveries, more countries aiming for lunar exploration, and a growing push to establish industries in space. This is significant because the Moon’s unique scientific samples and potential resources have become a central focus for exploration and economic activity.
Sending missions and people to the Moon showcases a nation’s technological capabilities to the world. Recent developments include India’s successful Chandrayaan-3 mission landing on the Moon and Japan’s plans for a robotic lunar mission. NASA and China are targeting the same southern polar region where India landed, a location rich in ice and sunlight that could support rocket fuel production and further exploration.
Lunar science is gaining renewed attention, evident from NASA’s announcement of a team of scientists guiding the geology priorities of the Artemis program. These experts will advise on collecting and cataloging Moon rocks during the Artemis III mission. Earlier this year, India joined the Artemis Accord.
Kazuto Suzuki, Professor of International Political Economy, Graduate School of Public Policy, Hokkaido University, tells Financial Express Online: “Prior to India’s Chandrayaan-3 landing on the moon, Russia failed in its first attempt to land on the moon in almost half a century, and Japan is also planning to launch SLIM. The US is pushing the Artemis programme, building a space station in lunar orbit to serve as a base for future trips to Mars. China, in cooperation with Russia, plans to build a permanent base on the Moon to explore the lunar surface.”
“The world is now competing to explore the Moon, largely because of the water resources on the Moon. It is believed that water is preserved in ice beneath the lunar South Pole, and if this water is utilized, it will not only contribute to human activities on the Moon, but also can be electrolyzed to produce hydrogen and oxygen, which can be used as fuel for rockets to explore further into deep space, especially to Mars. Therefore, the acquisition of water resources will give us an overwhelming advantage in space exploration,” Prof Kazuto Suzuki says.
Outer Space Treaty & Fear of Militarization
However, few rules exist to control activities on the Moon. According to him, “Since the Outer Space Treaty does not recognize state ownership of the Moon or other celestial bodies, exploration and mining of water resources is likely to be undertaken by private companies in principle, but who will acquire the resources and who will protect their ownership is not clearly defined.” Adding, “Four countries-the United States, Japan, the UAE, and Luxembourg-have laws regarding space resources that grant ownership rights to the companies that mine them, but there is no clear answer as to how to arbitrate conflicts of interest in the event of a confrontation with a country that does not respect such laws.”
As a result, lunar water resource exploration has become like an American Western movie, where the early bird wins and one’s own resources are protected in the absence of rules.
According to him, the fact that India became the first country to make a soft landing at the South Pole of the Moon, landed a rover, and began exploration for water resources means that India has jumped to the top of this lunar water resource competition. “In the future, when India discovers water resources and is able to mine them, the lunar resource competition will move from the exploration stage to the rights protection stage,” he states.
“As per the “Moon international treaty” it doesn’t belong to any one nation. But any nation exploring the Moon should be adhered to the treaty,” explains Dr TN Suresh Kumar, Senior Space Scientist (retd), ISRO.
According to him, “Like the agreement forbids the establishment of military bases, installations and fortifications on the Moon and, the testing of any type of weapons, and the conduct of military maneuvers on the Moon. But the use of scientific research or for any other peaceful purposes is not prohibited.”
