A team of investigators states that there may be over 900 billion euros in platinum hidden under the moon surface – an important lunar treasure waiting to be explored.
From the surroundings of 1.3 million craters They cover the moon surface with diameters more than 1 km, almost 6,500 were created by asteroids that contain huge quantities of platinum, which has still called ““ other valuable ores such as the Paladio or iridio for days.
The conclusion results from one conducted by a team of researchers led by the independent Canadian astrophysicist Jayanth chennnamangalarecently published in Planetary and Space Sciencewhich sought to find out if there would be quantities of precious minerals on the moon that justified their commercial exploitation.
For investigators, the interest of the discovery does not only reside in the promise of immense wealth: the income of exploitation of these ores could be used to explore the space.
“At the moment, Astronomy is made to satisfy our curiosity“Chennamangala said to.“ There are very few practical applications and is funded by taxpayers’ moneywhich means it is at the mercy of government politics. ”
“If we can monetize spatial resources “Whether on the moon or asteroids – private companies will invest in exploiting the solar system,” he added.
According to Chennamangalam, ”there may be much more craters on the moon with remains of ore carrier asteroids than ore accessible asteroids“.
The exploitation of these craters It would be significantly simpler than traveling to distant asteroids, such as the, which most of the time do not have enough severity for mining operations, but raises some legal issues.
As explained by New Scientist, the Exterior space treatysigned in 1967, establishes strict rules for the exploitation of spatial resources, preventing any nation of claim or occupy the “moon and other celestial bodies”.
However, experts claim that these rules could still allow governments find gaps and claim rights licensing to extract resources.
“Although the treaty clearly applies to such activities, it leaves key questions unanswered,” he says Rebecca Connollyresearcher at the University of Sydney, Australia.
Some people compared asteroid mining to International fishingwhich is allowed Even if no one owns the high seabut it would be harder to use the same argument for moon mining.
Thus, the surface race is underway – a fierce competition that can be Decided between the US and China Until the end of this decade, especially if a fortune in precious metals is at stake.
