Clive Neal, professor of civil and environmental engineering and earth sciences at the University of Notre Dame, was a private sector delegate to the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UN-COPUOS) on May 6 in Vienna, Austria. He delivered a technical presentation on the need for international cooperation in utilizing space resources with particular focus on our Moon.
Neal presented before the UN-COPUOS legal subcommittee, which addresses international space law topics such as treaties, space boundaries, national legislation, space debris, and peaceful space cooperation. His remarks start at 2:26:00 into the UN Web TV video.
Neal, who has 39 years of experience in lunar science, investigates the origin, composition, resources, and evolution of the Moon, including the massive volcanic eruptions that took place billions of years ago. He is also a proponent of sustainable human space exploration, a cislunar economy, and future trips to the Moon.
Neal’s presentation identified lunar prospecting as the “immediate next step” in providing important data on the Moon’s resources to the international community, noting that the existence of lunar reserves—the “economically and legally recoverable portion of a resource”—has not yet been proven.
“It needs to be highlighted that as of today, there are no recognized reserves at the Moon,” said Neal. “Lunar resources are not ready for extraction and use as their reserve potential is unknown.” Also unknown are: the concentration of resources, the effort needed to access and mine them, and their impurities.
The Moon could potentially supply the Earth with rare metals and facilitate the development of lunar habitats. If water ice—found in shadowed craters and polar regions—could be converted into hydrogen and oxygen for rocket fuel, the Moon could serve as a refueling station for more distant destinations. However, the mining of the Moon raises serious concerns about space governance and the preservation of the lunar environment.
Neal said that cooperative, international prospecting campaigns could address the need for detailed data sets on lunar resources, develop information sharing protocols, and establish benchmarks and measures for successful data exchange. Such campaigns could conduct science, exploration and commercial activities at the same time.
Multiple, international stakeholders—from science, commerce and exploration—would, according to Neal, ensure the success of lunar prospecting campaigns.
“When we go to the Moon, Mars and beyond, we should go together,” said Neal.
—Karla Cruise, Notre Dame Engineering