Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

NASA Now Accepting Applications From Companies That Want To Mine the Moon

Posted by samzenpus on from the getting-some-cheese dept.

cold fjord writes "The Verge reports, "NASA is now working with private companies to take the first steps in exploring the moon for valuable resources like helium 3 and rare earth metals. Initial proposals are due tomorrow for the Lunar Cargo Transportation and Landing by Soft Touchdown program (CATALYST). One or more private companies will win a contract to build prospecting robots, the first step toward mining the moon. Final proposals are due on March 17th, 2014. NASA has not said when it will announce the winner."

15 of 251 comments (clear)

  1. I need NASA's permission to mine the moon now? by bazmail · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Hey NASA, race ya.

    1. Re:I need NASA's permission to mine the moon now? by Trevin · · Score: 3, Informative

      The Moon Treaty (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_Treaty) is only signed by 15 members of the United Nations, and by none of the countries which engage in manned space flight. So doesn’t have any legal force.

    2. Re:I need NASA's permission to mine the moon now? by mythosaz · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Due to the landmark case Finders v Keepers, I'm pretty sure NASA owns the moon.

  2. Can we just mine the dark side? by alta · · Score: 3, Funny

    I mean I'd rather not look up at night and see a strip mining operations on the moon.

    Or maybe all mining has to be underground, no above ground mining. You're allowed one small area to be your entry point and that's it.

    --
    Do not meddle in the affairs of sysadmins, for they are subtle, and quick to anger.
    1. Re:Can we just mine the dark side? by SleazyRidr · · Score: 3, Informative

      I can't tell if you think that is a possibility, or it you're just trolling. Look at this picture of how far away the Earth is from the moon: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2... The moon is both incredibly large and incredibly far away. The idea that we could affect it to the extent that you could see it from Earth is completely ridiculous. Look at the "dark side" of the Earth as seen from the moon: http://sciencenordic.com/what-.... If all the lights on Earth don't make an impression to the moon, then nothing we'd even think about putting on the moon will have any noticeable difference to us.

      --
      Is 1563649 a prime number?
    2. Re:Can we just mine the dark side? by Sperbels · · Score: 3, Interesting

      if they use a lot of industrial lighting to illuminate the operations a new moon could easily become a sparkly moon

      We're too far away to see those lights without strong telescopes. And considering the mining would probably be done by robots, we might not even need visible spectrum lights.

  3. NASA? by schneidafunk · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I didn't realize NASA owned the moon.

    --
    Some people die at 25 and aren't buried until 75. -Benjamin Franklin
  4. Space 1999, Sorta by tiberus · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Okay, am I the only one have flashbacks to 13 September 1999, when the nuclear storage facility on Moonbase Alpha exploded sending the Moon hurtling out of orbit?

    So, mine the Moon, ship the material to Earth... Um, won't this change it's mass and as a consequence, it's amount of gravity in generates and then it's orbit? Sorry for being all Doom & Gloom here.

    1. Re:Space 1999, Sorta by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      Okay, am I the only one have flashbacks to 13 September 1999, when the nuclear storage facility on Moonbase Alpha exploded sending the Moon hurtling out of orbit?

      So, mine the Moon, ship the material to Earth... Um, won't this change it's mass and as a consequence, it's amount of gravity in generates and then it's orbit? Sorry for being all Doom & Gloom here.

      So does sending a rocket up from Earth. Hey, if you shine a flashlight up in the sky, some of those photons will escape all the atmosphere and due to conservation of momentum actually push Earth in the other direction.

    2. Re:Space 1999, Sorta by Minwee · · Score: 4, Insightful
      Um, the moon has a mass of 73,476,730,900,000,000,000,000 kilograms. A few million tons either way isn't even a dent in that.

      There are entirely different reasons why you should worry about huge masses of rock being produced on the moon and thrown down to Earth.

  5. Tritium ? by stooo · · Score: 3, Funny

    Mining tritium on the moon ?
    not a good idea.
    If you bring it back and it explodes in the athmosphere during reentry, we are all dead.

    BTW, slashdot beta is shit.

    --
    aaaaaaa
  6. Don't we need to talk with other countries first? by sts2nihon · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I can just imagine a space-age gold rush erupting and the face of the moon forever altered...

  7. Re:I'm afraid this means war by GoodNewsJimDotCom · · Score: 5, Funny

    We're all doomed when they mine away the Helium that's been keeping the moon floating up there. :P

    --
    God spoke to me
  8. Re:I'm afraid this means war by gnick · · Score: 3, Funny

    Hey - TANSTAAFL.

    --
    He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
  9. Re:I'm afraid this means war by Mister+Liberty · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Indeed. And this is also in reponse to the dickhead Anon Coward below (you
    know who you are): China will sooner bury you.

    The moon is not mine to mine, it's not yours to mine. The NASA understands that.
    They just want your money, that is going to the NSA right now (not te missing A).
    They have become a PR machine, launching ideas such as these now and again,
    just to entice non-thinking though plenty aggressive fools -- such as you, anon.