Who Owns the Moon? Star Wars between Private Companies and Superpowers

Chinese exploration will not stop, and it points to the deepest space. In light of the crowding we are seeing, it is legitimate to ask ourselves how we got into occupying space in the first place. If it’s true that everything belongs to everyone, and no government can call the moon or Mars its own on the basis of the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, then why is there a contest over who should possess the moon? Besides the same actors (U.S., Russia, China), there are many private businesses, like Orbital Sciences [Corporation], that have developed space programs and that could eventually call segments of spatial terrain their own.

In the “Vision for 2020” document that was distributed in 1997 by Spacecom,* its former leader, Gen. Joseph W. Ashy, declared, “We’ll expand into these two missions because they will become increasingly important. We will engage terrestrial targets someday — ships, airplanes, land targets — from space. We will engage targets in space, from space.” Current space legislation provides for a series of modest limitations with regard to military activity in space, while it has always been militarized to some degree.

There is a multitude of activities defined as passive or as military support operations, such as observation, surveillance, communications and the detection of atomic explosions on Earth. In other words, the commercial exploitation of space is worthwhile for the U.S., with annual earnings in the order of hundreds of billions of dollars and representing a strategic resource for the national economy. Commercial satellites are also greatly relevant to the role they perform in the management of U.S. national security. The fact that we want space to be ever more accessible has increased internationalization, and with that, the possibility for conflict. In this sense, as said by neoconservatives, space will be viewed in the same way as the classic arenas of military conflict like land and sea, and will therefore be defended through the same means — that is, with weapons.

The EU has the economic and especially technological means for sending armies into space, but it is unable to detach itself from the U.S., assuming the costs of an independent defense policy. The European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP) and the Galileo project have fueled nervousness among the Americans, but not to the point of actually worrying them. The Russian situation is especially important, especially for the international space station and its partners, including the Italians. After the retirement of the NASA shuttle ships, it is only possible to use the uncomfortable and old Soyuz. China is the country, more than the others, that has the intention of going ahead with its interests, having the economic means to do so.

Besides the development of anti-satellite armies, an important step forward was the development of manned spaceflight. Yutu’s landing on the moon happened 10 years after the beginning of human space exploration. The geopolitical game of lunar and space claims is implicating different countries, and the delicate equilibrium is shifting — along with [a heightening of] the risk of getting caught up in incomplete international legislation. A few countries have already adopted national laws about space, but Italy is not among them.

*Editor’s note: The United States Space Command officially issued this document.