Russia launched its first spacecraft in 47 years to land on the moon on Friday, amid a race by major powers including the United States, China and India to learn more about raw materials on Earth’s only natural satellite, Reuters reported.

Russia has announced that it will also launch other lunar missions, and then explore the possibility of a joint Russian-Chinese manned mission and even a lunar base. NASA talked about the “lunar gold rush” and considered the potential of mining the moon.

But why are the great powers so interested in what is there?

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The moon, which is located at a distance of 384,400 km from our planet, softens the oscillations of the Earth around its axis, which ensures a more stable climate. It also causes tides in the oceans.

The current view is that it formed when a massive object collided with Earth about 4.5 billion years ago. Debris from the collision coalesced to form the Moon.

Temperatures on the surface of the Moon vary wildly, rising to 127 degrees Celsius in the sun, while in the dark they drop to about minus 173 degrees Celsius. The Moon’s exosphere does not protect against solar radiation.

Water on the surface of the Moon

The first definitive discovery of water on the moon was made in 2008 by India’s Chandrayaan-1 mission, which found hydroxyl molecules spread across the surface of the moon and concentrated at the poles, NASA said.

Water is critical to human life and can also be a source of hydrogen and oxygen that can be used for rocket fuel.

Helium-3

Helium-3 is an isotope of helium that is rare on Earth, but NASA says there is an estimated one million tons of helium on the moon.

According to the European Space Agency, this isotope could provide nuclear power in a fusion reactor, but because it is not radioactive, it would not produce hazardous waste.

Rare metals

Rare metals used in smartphones, computers and advanced technology are present on the moon, including scandium, yttrium and 15 lanthanides, according to Boeing research.

What will mining look like on the moon:

Now it is not very clear. A certain infrastructure must be created on the Moon.

Conditions on the moon mean that robots will have to do most of the heavy lifting, although water on the moon would allow for a long-term human presence.

What does the legislation say?

aegea is vague and full of gaps. The 1966 UN Outer Space Treaty states that no nation can claim sovereignty over the Moon or other celestial bodies, and that space exploration must be for the benefit of all nations.

But lawyers say it’s unclear whether a private entity can claim sovereignty over part of the moon.

“Space mining is subject to relatively little policy or governance despite these potentially high stakes,” the RAND Corporation explained in a blog post last year.

The 1979 Lunar Treaty states that no part of the Moon “shall become the property of any State, international intergovernmental or non-governmental organization, national or non-governmental organization or individual.” The agreement has not been ratified by any major space power. .

In 2020, the United States announced the Artemis Agreement, named after NASA’s Artemis lunar program, to try to advance existing international space law by establishing “safe zones” on the moon. Russia and China did not join the agreements.