What Shall We Do with the Moon Once We Get There?

One Idea for Enabling a Lunar Settlement

For the first time in over thirty five years, the Moon has become the next frontier. The United States has committed to returning human astronauts to the Moon by the end of the next decade. China has hinted that it intends to do this also. A variety of countries, including the United States and China, but also India, Europe, and Japan, have either sent robotic probes into lunar orbit or are on the verge of doing so.

The return to the Moon effort has even become part of American Presidential politics as the various candidates have taken positions for or against the undertaking, Shall we proceed to the Moon or shall we, once again, draw back?

And another question has arisen. What shall we do with the Moon once we get there?

Ideas ranging from scientific exploration, commercial exploitation, and training for future exploration, say of Mars, abound. These are all excellent ideas, but they imply something beyond short term forays as occurred during the Apollo program. They imply a permanent residency of humans on the Moon or, in other words, a lunar settlement.

A lunar settlement, probably located at one of the lunar poles where scientists believe ice exists in permanently shadowed craters, would be a center of science and commerce. Lunar geologists and astronomers would work cheek to jowl with helium 3 miners and lunar tour guides. There would even be a government of some kind, with lawyers and bureaucrats, to sort out disputes and to pass and supervise laws and regulations.

However, if the lunar settlement is to be more than just an Antarctica style science base, some provision would have to be made about private property rights. And there is the rub.

The Outer Space Treaty, which currently governs national activities in space, is silent about private property rights. The treaty does, however, forbid nations from making sovereign claims on territory on other worlds. National sovereignty is the traditional mechanism for guaranteeing private property.