The Arctic as prelude
With the increasing focus on the opening up of the Arctic to possible exploration due to the ice cap melting, the countries bordering the Arctic ocean have been playing the old game of flag-planting, among other things, to stake claims to what might be rich resources.
Wired has an article that points out that what ultimately happens in the Arctic may set the precedent for future resource grabs in Antarctica, the seabed, and even the moon and other planets.
But what has gone unnoticed amid the international clamor is that the Arctic battle has implications that reach far beyond the top of Earth. The squabbling will be a prelude to — and even set the tone for — eventual sovereignty claims on the moon. At the same time that it was making Arctic claims, Russia announced plans for manned lunar missions by 2025 and a permanent base there by 2032. Japan might beat them to the punch with a 2030 base. Both will be able to stop over and share a glass of Tang with US astronauts, who are supposed to start setting up shop in 2020. China also has lunar aspirations, though officials will say only that they plan to get to the moon sometime after 2020.
It could get crowded up there, and the rules for lunar landgrabs will likely be patterned on what is happening now in the far north. "The recent Arctic events are relevant," says Joanne Gabrynowicz, an international space law expert at the University of Mississippi. "The seabed, high seas, Antarctica, and space are, as a matter of law, global commons. What happens in one can be argued to be legal precedent in the others."
So how the Arctic claims get settled may set the legal framework for space exploration. It is, at the very least, an interesting thing to think about.
