Moon Underground: Space Colonization and the Global Race for Lunar Water Ice

• In Event: STS Underground - I: Mining Knowledge Practices

Abstract

Lunar exploration practically fell into oblivion after the end of the Apollo program, almost 50 years ago. However, since the mid-2010s we witness a new race to the Moon. Why this renewed interest in Earth’s satellite? In the last decade, several remote sensing satellites have suggested the presence of large reserves of water ice in the deep craters of the south pole of the Moon, rekindling Apollo-era plans for lunar settlement. The promise of this water, “space’s most valuable currency,” has led the Chinese, Russian, European and US space agencies to develop prospecting instruments and sample return missions to the lunar surface, while a number of Moon-oriented private industries —from space mining to bitcoin enterprises— are mushrooming in Luxembourg and Silicon Valley to ride the wave of what has been dubbed “the lunar gold rush” —a business worth, some claim, quadrillions of dollars. Despite the Outer Space Treaty’s article I, that establishes the Moon as “the province of all mankind,” fierce contestation over the lunar south pole and the ownership of its water ice is already taking place in various international arenas. Drawing on ethnographic research I have conducted since 2016, this paper builds upon STS scholarship and studies of the subsurface to discuss the current technoscientific and politico-legal debate on space resources, in particular examining the synergies and tensions between particular states, lobby groups, heritage experts, and terrestrial mining industries.

Author

• Tamara Alvarez, The New School for Social Research