Private Companies Landing On The Moon

A.mechanic

I've just read that a private company planning to land a spacecraft on the moon has had to get permission to do so from the United States government.
Now while I realise that the US were the first and only country to land on the moon, I didn't realise it gave them the right to decide who goes there after them and some how I don't think the Russians and the Chinese would recognise such a right anyway.
Anybody care to shed a bit more light on the subject of lunar law?

Mr Bloat

My limited knowledge of this situation is that under an international treaty signed by a few countries many years ago, a private company has to ask permission of the government of the country they are registered in if they want to fly in space or land on the moon. Because this company is American, they had to ask permission of the US government, it's not that the US government think they own the moon.

I also presume the company had to ask permission to launch from US soil and fly through American air space.

CIARAN_BOYLE

Mr Bloat wrote: »

My limited knowledge of this situation is that under an international treaty signed by a few countries many years ago, a private company has to ask permission of the government of the country they are registered in if they want to fly in space or land on the moon. Because this company is American, they had to ask permission of the US government, it's not that the US government think they own the moon.

I also presume the company had to ask permission to launch from US soil and fly through American air space.

This is my understanding as well.

A.mechanic

Thanks for the clarification.

_Tombstone_

The Outer Space Treaty prohibits nations from claiming sovereignty over the moon or other parts of the solar system. It also states: “The activities of nongovernmental entities in outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, shall require authorization and continuing supervision by the appropriate state party to the treaty.”

The United States fought to include that clause, rejecting the Soviet view that space exploration should be limited to governments, said Matthew Schaefer, the director of the space, cyber and telecommunications law program at the University of Nebraska.

While the American negotiators did not necessarily foresee a company like Moon Express, “the U.S. government wanted to keep that option open,” Professor Schaefer said.

Nonetheless, that would have been a roadblock, said Dr. Richards, Moon Express’s chief executive, because the United States did not have any procedures for authorizing and supervising what companies like Moon Express want to do.

“Any application to the U.S. government would have been vetoed by the State Department, due to the lack of regulatory frameworks that would allow the U.S. government to remain in compliance with the Outer Space Treaty,” he said.

Instead, the process for approval was routed through the F.A.A., which regulates commercial rocket launches and payloads headed to space. In 2013, Bigelow Aerospace, a company that builds inflatable structures that could one day be used as lunar habitats, suggested that the F.A.A. use this process to coordinate competing commercial efforts, at least among American companies.

Moon Express has now employed this payload review process for its lunar trip. The F.A.A. sent its approval on July 20, the 47th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the moon.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/04/science/moon-express-faa.html

More info^^^

I'd a thread on the Google X prize here.







And to make sure they ain't gonna be landing near the base up there.