Dear readers,
Welcome to Quartz’s newsletter on the economic possibilities of the extraterrestrial sphere. Please forward widely, and let me know what you think. This week: liberating the moon for capitalism, remembering Apollo 13 and the world’s most disappointing zip-line.
🌘 🌘 🌘
The United States has never recognized the 1979 UN Moon Treaty, which calls for lunar resources to be the heritage of all mankind, nor has any other spacefaring power. That’s made it a dead letter in international law since the day it was inked.
It hasn’t mattered much. Few efforts have been made to return to the moon since the Apollo program came to an end in 1972. But that may soon change, now that the cost of access to space is falling and the understanding of the benefits of lunar exploration is growing.
Anticipating the possibility of lunar exploitation in the near future, US lawmakers in 2015 asserted a right to private ownership of space resources returned to Earth under the UN’s 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which is recognized by most spacefaring powers. But that too was met with controversy.
This week, the Trump administration issued an executive order that reiterates the US rejection of the Moon Treaty and calls on US diplomats to instead explore bilateral and multilateral agreements with other countries for how interested parties can make use of space resources.
“We thought it was important to clarify what US policy was toward the Moon Agreement and then lay out a more positive vision going forward,” a White House space adviser told reporters in a background briefing. “If the 1979 Moon Agreement was not it, what is it that we would like to see? And we’d like to have an engagement with commercial and international partners.”
The timing is driven by the planned Artemis lunar return, which the US government hopes to achieve in 2024, a target most outside observers think is unlikely at best. NASA is still finalizing its plan to do that, as well as how it will incorporate private companies. Ironically, the space agency plans to streamline the Artemis program by delaying aspects of it that make long-term exploitation of lunar resources more feasible, like an orbiting way station around the moon.
Still, NASA does plan to send a series of rovers to the moon, built by private companies and by the agency, to hunt for water amidst the craters of the lunar south pole. If the water ice indicated by remote sensors is sufficiently accessible, there will be pressure to exploit it. The ability to set up astronomical observatories on the moon—with politically tricky consequences—is also approaching: NASA funded a study into a crater-based telescope this week.
The move to hold talks with other countries, rather than proposing a comprehensive global treaty or working through the United Nations, reflects both the Trump administration’s inherent mistrust of international institutions and the reality that they have proven slow to respond to changing global circumstances.
At the end of the day, the key inputs will be from Russia and China, the two other nations most capable of heading for the moon, and from the European Union, which is likely to cooperate with each of these countries to do so.
Russia criticized the US order for “attempts to expropriate outer space and aggressive plans to actually seize territories of other planets,” which is not (quite) what the US is trying to do. China thus far has been much more circumspect, largely because—like the US—its space agencies have plans to begin doing more in space and want that flexibility.
While the focus here is on property rights, perhaps the first order of business will be figuring out how to deal with rules around “non-interference” discussed in the Outer Space Treaty—before countries come into conflict over the resources themselves, they’re likely to come into conflict over who gets to land their spacecraft where.
🚀 🚀 🚀
Imagery Interlude
In a few days, on April 11, we’ll mark the 50th anniversary of the launch of Apollo 13. The famous moon-mission-gone-wrong helped stamp NASA with its “failure is not an option” ethos. If you haven’t seen the Oscar-nominated movie, three moon-bound astronauts faced disaster when an oxygen tank exploded, potentially crippling their spacecraft. Instead, they managed to work with teammates on the ground to jury-rig the vehicle and return safely to Earth.
This picture of the three astronauts emerging from their capsule in the South Pacific has always struck me. Imagine what Jack Swigert, with his back to the camera, is thinking as he looks out to the horizon after the harrowing journey.
Meanwhile, back in Houston, the mission control team, including NASA icon Gene Kranz in his white vest, celebrate the astronauts’ successful return.
🛸 🛸 🛸
🚨 Read this 🚨
Each generation is shaped by the national and international events that take place during their formative years. Gen Z’s political attitudes, trust in institutions, and their approach to spending will all be shaped by their experience of the coronavirus.
🚀 🚀 🚀
SPACE DEBRIS
OFT-2. Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft will redo a key test before it goes into service flying astronauts for NASA, the company said this week. The decision comes after the vehicle failed to reach the International Space Station during a December 2019 “Operational Flight Test,” and subsequent investigations revealed serious problems with Boeing’s approach, particularly to deploying and testing software. While agency leaders had hoped that a new test wouldn’t be necessary, Boeing took a $410 million charge to its earnings earlier this year to cover the costs of the second dress rehearsal.
Worm back? Worm back. SpaceX, the other company building a new vehicle for NASA’s commercial crew program, is still aiming to fly its first crew in May. The rocket that carries them to orbit will be wearing a throwback jersey—NASA’s 1976 “worm” logo:
Alongside the broader design guidelines introduced along with it, the worm has long been hailed by graphic designers as a classic piece of iconography. It’s also sparked numerous debates over its superiority, or lack thereof, compared to the “meatball” graphic that both preceded and replaced it. The one-off return of the worm is part of NASA’s attempt to underscore the importance of the return of human spaceflight to the United States for the first time since 2011.
Go back to those gold soundz. You may think you know everything about the golden LP humanity sent to interstellar space on Voyager, but our obsession email deep dive is bound to contain something that surprises you.
The most disappointing zipline. Me, I’m afraid of heights. I’d get quite a thrill from riding this emergency zipline—but you have to imagine it would be a real let-down for an astronaut who was planning to fly into space to instead evacuate their rocket and sail the 265 feet down from the top of the launch tower.
The movie cosmonauts always watch. The history of Soviet science fiction is quite interesting, but Russian cosmonauts and US astronauts who ride the Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station have a different pre-flight watch tradition: They enjoy a 1970 drama set in Turkmenistan during the Russian revolution, called White Sun of the Desert. You can join in the fun and watch it, too.
Your pal,
Tim
This was issue 42 of our newsletter. Hope your week is out of this world! Please send your throwback spaceflight traditions, rules for lunar resource exploitation, tips, and informed opinions to tim@qz.com.