Intergalactic travel has been the dream of humanity ever since we figured out that those twinkling stars actually have planets circling them. Perhaps those planets have fresh water, perhaps they have mountains, and perhaps we can shred powder in the Cassiopeia constellation. Let’s light this candle baby, we’re going to the moon with Dynafits. But rather than searching for 0.00001% SWE space-snow, NASA and other countries have their sights set on extracting minerals from space and building spacecraft landing stations on the moon. After that, they will start construction on the Chalet Du Márs at the base of Olympus Mons. And that’s where the Artemis Accords come in.
The Artemis Accords (2020) are proposed to supplement the 1967 International Outer Space Treaty. The 1967 Treaty was produced out of the Cold War and used to prevent any weapons of mass destruction from being put in orbit around our planet. The Artemis Accords have a more present flavor: Whatever you take out of the moon, you can keep. If you find water and extract it, feel free to use it in your hydrogen-powered rockets. And, there will be ‘Saftey Zones’. These will be perimeters for facilities on the moon, where countries can draw a line in the space-sand. They’ll work like zones of inhibition, where other nations’ will not be allowed into each others’ zones on the moon. It is designed to avoid conflict, and keep activities in Star Trek before they go to Star Wars.
Russia, our old space-rival, is not fully sold. “The principle of invasion is the same, whether it be the Moon or Iraq. The creation of a ‘coalition of the willing’ is initiated,” Mr. Rogozin, Russia’s Space Agency chief, wrote on Twitter. “Only Iraq or Afghanistan will come out of this.” They say that drawing lines only leads to battles over them later, but NASA says not to worry and that the zones will encourage coordination between programs. Putin just won’t be allowed to come over for Aprés.
