Many countries and private companies are aiming for lunar landings for a variety of reasons, including:

• National prestige 
• Resources 
• Military, strategic, and economic value 
• Rare-earth metals and helium-3 
• Testing technologies and resources 
• Providing a proving ground to build a sustainable, reusable architecture The moon is also a target for space exploration, as five decades after the last Apollo mission, the moon is once again a target for space exploration

The reasons for going vary: from scientific knowledge and technological advances to the prospect of accessing potentially useful lunar resources and political or economic value. The UK space industry, for instance, was extremely robust during the recession

In January 2024, two private companies, Astrobotic and Intuitive Machines, competed to be the first private entity to land on the moon. Astrobotic is aiming to land in lunar orbit in a month and then land on the moon in two weeks. Intuitive Machines, which is based in Houston, uses a SpaceX rocket to leave orbit and then land on its own. 

In 2021, NASA contracted SpaceX to develop, manufacture, and fly two lunar landing flights with the Starship HLS lunar lander. In 2023, SpaceX is scheduled to circumnavigate the moon with private astronaut Yusaku Maezawa and eight other civilians. In February 2024, SpaceX launched a robotic spacecraft to the moon on a Falcon 9 rocket, which would be the first commercial vehicle to touch down on the moon since the Apollo missions. 

Astrobotic was aiming to be the first private business to successfully land on the moon, something only four countries have accomplished. A second lander from a Houston company is due to launch next month. NASA gave the two companies millions to build and fly their own lunar landers

As of January 2024, no private company has landed on the moon. However, some private companies have proposed tourist trips to the moon’s surface, but none have started serious development. 

NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program pays private companies to deliver scientific instruments to the moon’s surface. NASA is also ready to let companies take the lead delivering agency payloads to the moon

In the coming weeks, two different private companies are attempting to land uncrewed spacecraft on the moon. If either of them pull it off, they’d be the first private company to land on the moon. This would also be the first successful American landing on the moon since the end of the Apollo program

According to the Outer Space Treaty, no country can own the moon or other celestial bodies. Nations mining resources on the moon don’t acquire any property rights over those resources. 

However, in 2015, the U.S. Congress and President Barack Obama passed legislation that gives American companies the right to own and sell natural resources they mine from celestial bodies, including the moon. In 2020, then-US President Donald Trump signed an executive order stating that any American citizen or company can extract and use resources in space. 

Other countries with unilateral laws for space resource mining include Luxembourg, the United Arab Emirates, and Japan. 

In other words, nations mining the resources of the Moon do not acquire any property rights over those resources; they do not own them. In this sense, the Artemis Accordsremain within the Outer Space Treaty’s provision on national appropriation

As of June 2023, NASA plans to start mining resources on the moon within the next decade, with the goal of excavating the soil by 2032. NASA’s initial resources will include oxygen and water, but may eventually expand to iron and rare earths. NASA is also exploring a pilot processing plant for lunar resources by 2032

According to BBC, reasons for going to the moon include:

• Scientific knowledge 
• Technological advances 
• Accessing lunar resources 
• Political or economic value NASA says that space exploration can:
  • Provide a new perspective on Earth and the solar system 
  • Advance technologies that improve daily life 
  • Inspire a new generation of artists, thinkers, engineers, and scientists NASA’s Moon to Mars exploration campaign began in 1989 with the Space Exploration Initiative (SEI). The SEI’s goal was to establish a long-term human presence on the moon and explore Mars. The moon is likely made of minerals like olivine and pyroxene, which are made up of magnesium, iron, silicon, and oxygen atoms. 

The moon has many resources, including: 

Solar power, Oxygen, Metals, Helium-3, Water, Rare earth metals, Uranium, Thorium, Deuterium, Lithium. 

The moon also has other elements, including: 

Hydrogen, Silicon, Iron, Magnesium, Calcium, Aluminum, Manganese, Titanium. 

The moon’s resources could support a lunar economy. For example, helium-3 is a valuable fuel for nuclear fusion reactors. The moon’s water can also be converted into rocket fue

The Outer Space Treaty, which has been in place for 60 years, prohibits nations from claiming territory in space, including the moon, planets, and asteroids. 

However, NASA plans to start mining resources on the moon within the next 10 years. NASA views the mining of rare-earth minerals as a viable lunar resource because they exhibit a wide range of industrially important optical, electrical, magnetic and catalytic properties. 

Some say that the moon is a scientific time capsule. As it lacks an atmosphere, there is no weathering or erosion of its surface. The cratered face we see represents 4.5 billion years of astronomical history. 

There are some extremely valuable resources on the moon that could support such a lunar economy. Helium-3 is one moon resource that is rare on earth but much more abundant on the lunar surface and could potentially be cheaper to mine from the moon. Helium-3 is a very attractive fuel for future nuclear fusion reactors

Mining the moon could have some consequences, including:

• Pollution Mining the moon could create pollution problems. The moon’s vacuum is useful for processing, and dumping gases on the moon could ruin that. 
• Dust Lunar dust contains silicate, which can cause lung inflammation and scarring in miners. It’s also abrasive enough to wear away spacesuit boots and destroy vacuum seals. 
• Cost It’s expensive to transport materials to the moon. At current rates, it costs about $1.5 million to send one kilogram of material to the moon. 
• Infrastructure Mining the moon would require existing infrastructure on the lunar surface. Mining the moon could also produce valuable by-products, such as solar-wind hydrogen. This hydrogen could be used for transportation between the Earth and the moon, and to support human life at a lunar outpost. 

Metals will be useful byproducts. Pollution would be a terrible problem if we mined the moon the way we do Earth. The moon’s near perfect vacuum is going to be useful in all kinds of processing. If we dumped gases on the moon the way we do on Earth, we’d ruin that perfection

The US declared the Moon a strategic interest in 2018. Does Altemus see his commercial mission as the beginning of a lunar economy? “At the time, no lunar landers or lunar programs existed in the United States,” he says. “Today, over a dozen companies are building landers, which is a new market. In turn, we’ve seen an increase in payloads, science instruments, and engineering systems being built for the Moon. We are seeing that economy start to catch up because the prospect of landing on the Moon exists. Space is an enormous human endeavour and it will always contain a government component because they have a strategic need to be in space. But there’s room now, for the first time in history, for commercial companies to be there.”

In recent years India has also seen a boom in space start-ups such as Pixel, Dhruva Space, Bellatrix Aerospace and Hyderabad’s Skyroot Aerospace, which launched India’s first private rocket in 2022.

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