Lunar mining raises key legal questions as new space race heats up
Fox News
No nation is allowed to claim sovereignty over the moon. To advance space mining, some countries are planning to contract commercial partners instead.
The initial space race to the moon brought about the United Nations 1966 treaty, which determined nations could not claim property rights in space. In the new space age, officials warn, China could ignore those laws and norms to advance its goals. Bret Baier is the Chief Political Anchor of Fox News Channel, and the Anchor and Executive Editor of "Special Report with Bret Baier." He is the author of five presidential biographies. His fifth biography, "To Rescue the Constitution: George Washington and the Fragile American Experiment" is out October 10, 2023.
"No sovereign country is supposed to plant that flag," DIA's John Huth, chief of the office of space and counterspace, said. "But we've also seen China do things in the South China Sea where they've built islands and then have claimed some exclusion zone around it. So, those are the things that we certainly want to keep an eye on."