The peaks of eternal light:A near-term property issue on the moon
The Outer Space Treaty makes it clear that the Moon is the ‘province of all mankind’, with the latter ordinarily understood to exclude state or private appropriation of any portion of its surface. However, there are indeterminacies in the Treaty and in space law generally over the issue of appropria...
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Online Access: | https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/95b6cde9-2db6-4db4-927e-161647c525a6 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spacepol.2016.05.011 http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85006421115&partnerID=8YFLogxK |
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ftkingscollondon:oai:kclpure.kcl.ac.uk:publications/95b6cde9-2db6-4db4-927e-161647c525a6 2024-05-19T07:48:40+00:00 The peaks of eternal light:A near-term property issue on the moon Elvis, Martin Milligan, Tony Krolikowski, Alanna 2016-11-01 https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/95b6cde9-2db6-4db4-927e-161647c525a6 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spacepol.2016.05.011 http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85006421115&partnerID=8YFLogxK eng eng info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess Elvis , M , Milligan , T & Krolikowski , A 2016 , ' The peaks of eternal light : A near-term property issue on the moon ' , SPACE POLICY , vol. 38 , pp. 30-38 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spacepol.2016.05.011 Ethics Legal Moon Policy Resources article 2016 ftkingscollondon https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spacepol.2016.05.011 2024-04-24T00:21:13Z The Outer Space Treaty makes it clear that the Moon is the ‘province of all mankind’, with the latter ordinarily understood to exclude state or private appropriation of any portion of its surface. However, there are indeterminacies in the Treaty and in space law generally over the issue of appropriation. These indeterminacies might permit a close approximation to a property claim or some manner of ‘quasi-property’. The recently revealed highly inhomogeneous distribution of lunar resources changes the context of these issues. We illustrate this altered situation by considering the Peaks of Eternal Light. They occupy about one square kilometer of the lunar surface. We consider a thought experiment in which a Solar telescope is placed on one of the Peaks of Eternal Light at the lunar South pole for scientific research. Its operation would require non-disturbance, and hence that the Peak remain unvisited by others, effectively establishing a claim of protective exclusion and de facto appropriation. Such a telescope would be relatively easy to emplace with today's technology and so poses a near-term property issue on the Moon. While effective appropriation of a Peak might proceed without raising some of the familiar problems associated with commercial development (especially lunar mining), the possibility of such appropriation nonetheless raises some significant issues concerning justice and the safeguarding of scientific practice on the lunar surface. We consider this issue from scientific, technical, ethical and policy viewpoints. Article in Journal/Newspaper South pole King's College, London: Research Portal Space Policy 38 30 38 |
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King's College, London: Research Portal |
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ftkingscollondon |
language |
English |
topic |
Ethics Legal Moon Policy Resources |
spellingShingle |
Ethics Legal Moon Policy Resources Elvis, Martin Milligan, Tony Krolikowski, Alanna The peaks of eternal light:A near-term property issue on the moon |
topic_facet |
Ethics Legal Moon Policy Resources |
description |
The Outer Space Treaty makes it clear that the Moon is the ‘province of all mankind’, with the latter ordinarily understood to exclude state or private appropriation of any portion of its surface. However, there are indeterminacies in the Treaty and in space law generally over the issue of appropriation. These indeterminacies might permit a close approximation to a property claim or some manner of ‘quasi-property’. The recently revealed highly inhomogeneous distribution of lunar resources changes the context of these issues. We illustrate this altered situation by considering the Peaks of Eternal Light. They occupy about one square kilometer of the lunar surface. We consider a thought experiment in which a Solar telescope is placed on one of the Peaks of Eternal Light at the lunar South pole for scientific research. Its operation would require non-disturbance, and hence that the Peak remain unvisited by others, effectively establishing a claim of protective exclusion and de facto appropriation. Such a telescope would be relatively easy to emplace with today's technology and so poses a near-term property issue on the Moon. While effective appropriation of a Peak might proceed without raising some of the familiar problems associated with commercial development (especially lunar mining), the possibility of such appropriation nonetheless raises some significant issues concerning justice and the safeguarding of scientific practice on the lunar surface. We consider this issue from scientific, technical, ethical and policy viewpoints. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Elvis, Martin Milligan, Tony Krolikowski, Alanna |
author_facet |
Elvis, Martin Milligan, Tony Krolikowski, Alanna |
author_sort |
Elvis, Martin |
title |
The peaks of eternal light:A near-term property issue on the moon |
title_short |
The peaks of eternal light:A near-term property issue on the moon |
title_full |
The peaks of eternal light:A near-term property issue on the moon |
title_fullStr |
The peaks of eternal light:A near-term property issue on the moon |
title_full_unstemmed |
The peaks of eternal light:A near-term property issue on the moon |
title_sort |
peaks of eternal light:a near-term property issue on the moon |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/95b6cde9-2db6-4db4-927e-161647c525a6 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spacepol.2016.05.011 http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85006421115&partnerID=8YFLogxK |
genre |
South pole |
genre_facet |
South pole |
op_source |
Elvis , M , Milligan , T & Krolikowski , A 2016 , ' The peaks of eternal light : A near-term property issue on the moon ' , SPACE POLICY , vol. 38 , pp. 30-38 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spacepol.2016.05.011 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spacepol.2016.05.011 |
container_title |
Space Policy |
container_volume |
38 |
container_start_page |
30 |
op_container_end_page |
38 |
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1799466978819178496 |