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Artemis Accords doubles down on Outer Space Treaty


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    Here's another really interesting science/space news story that you have to go digging around on the web to find it seems. 7 nations + the US have agreed to the Artemis Accords, which is basically a set of rules for playing nice in space, when it comes to no nukes and mining minerals on the moon, among other things.

    The rules would allow private companies to extract lunar resources, create safety zones to prevent conflict and ensure that countries act transparently about their plans in space and share their scientific discoveries.

    In an interview ahead of the announcement, NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine said the accords are “intended to create norms of behavior that all countries can agree to so that we can keep peace and prosperity moving forward in space and avoid any kind of confusion or ambiguity that can result in conflict.”

    What's interesting is we already have something like this called the 1967 Outer Space Treaty (which is an infinitely cooler name). The one from the 60's bans use of nuclear weapons in space and stops any nation from laying claim to the moon or any other planets, meteors, etc.

    Still very interesting to me that the UK, Australia, Canada, Japan, the US, Italy, Luxembourg and the UAB are all on board with this. Means mineral extraction in outer space is imminent and colonization and setting up nuke sites in space is a real threat. Awesome and terrifying. :|

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    Very interesting. First, we've gotta get the tech to mine stuff in space in the first place. But yeah, it's scary that we have to agree on something like this because we are all so prone to be jerks to one another. If and when real space stuff happens, I'm sure this will be ignored as a slight formality that can be bent at times. We've had so many of these types of agreements elsewhere and they blatantly get abused many times over.
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    Lucy_in_the_Sky Wrote:

    The rules would allow private companies to extract lunar resources, create safety zones to prevent conflict and ensure that countries act transparently about their plans in space and share their scientific discoveries.

    Unfortunately, I find this incredibly hard to see actually happen. We all know that companies are now running countries. These companies don't care what these laws state and will do whatever they can to get ahead of one another, especially when considering the country aspect. I keep hearing a running joke.. Wait till Nestle' finds out there's water on the moon.