WEBVTT - Space Treaties and Artemis Accords 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to tex Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 0:00:12.119 --> 0:00:15.240 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:15.360 --> 0:00:18.480 Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio 0:00:18.520 --> 0:00:22.400 and I love all things tech. And in space, no 0:00:22.440 --> 0:00:29.080 one can hear you scream. They also can't hear you laugh, uh, cry, 0:00:30.320 --> 0:00:34.320 or launch a thermonuclear device. And that's caused sound doesn't 0:00:34.400 --> 0:00:37.400 travel in space. Do you know why. It's not that 0:00:37.520 --> 0:00:40.360 there's no air out in space. It's that there's not 0:00:40.479 --> 0:00:45.120 enough of anything out in space. And just to be clear, 0:00:45.200 --> 0:00:47.320 this wasn't how I actually planned to start this episode. 0:00:47.320 --> 0:00:49.839 But I'm on a roll now, so you can't stop me. Okay. 0:00:49.840 --> 0:00:52.879 So sound is a physical phenomena. We've talked about this 0:00:52.920 --> 0:00:57.200 before on Tech Stuff. It's where particles transmit vibrations outward 0:00:57.280 --> 0:01:01.040 from a source of those vibrations. And as so long 0:01:01.080 --> 0:01:04.400 as you've got a bunch of physical particles of stuff, 0:01:04.920 --> 0:01:07.399 and those physical particles of stuff are close enough together 0:01:07.720 --> 0:01:11.160 to bump into each other when one gets pushed, but 0:01:11.240 --> 0:01:13.440 they're not so tightly packed that they aren't able to 0:01:13.440 --> 0:01:16.240 move at all, well, then sounds going to travel through 0:01:16.959 --> 0:01:21.319 that substance. Sound will go through water or solid objects 0:01:21.440 --> 0:01:24.400 or the air. And in every case, these particles, like 0:01:24.600 --> 0:01:28.240 air molecules for example, vibrate and in the air this 0:01:28.280 --> 0:01:31.800 causes little fluctuations in air pressure, which in turn affect 0:01:31.880 --> 0:01:35.399 the tympanic membrane or ear drum in our ears, and 0:01:35.440 --> 0:01:39.600 we experience that as hearing sound. I've gone into that 0:01:39.640 --> 0:01:44.840 in greater detail on other podcasts, but that's the basics there. Well, 0:01:44.840 --> 0:01:49.760 in space, there's a vacuum or essentially a vacuum, and 0:01:49.880 --> 0:01:53.880 a vacuum is an area devoid of matter. Most of 0:01:53.920 --> 0:01:58.400 space is empty with no matter in it. And if 0:01:58.440 --> 0:02:02.560 there's no matter, there's no medium through which vibrations can travel. 0:02:03.400 --> 0:02:06.600 The vibrations can't go anywhere, so there's there's no sound, 0:02:06.600 --> 0:02:09.760 there's no vibration. But that's not what this episode is 0:02:09.800 --> 0:02:11.760 about anyway. I just wanted to say, it's not just 0:02:11.880 --> 0:02:15.600 that there's no air out in space. There's no anything 0:02:15.760 --> 0:02:19.440 out in space. That's the problem. Okay, let's get to 0:02:19.440 --> 0:02:22.320 what this episode is actually about. It's about the rules 0:02:22.440 --> 0:02:24.520 we humans have come up with when it comes to 0:02:24.680 --> 0:02:28.639 space exploration, because, as it turns out, human beings can 0:02:28.680 --> 0:02:33.600 be amazing, but we can also be pretty terrible and 0:02:33.680 --> 0:02:37.800 space holds a lot of potential for amazing and terrible things, 0:02:38.400 --> 0:02:41.799 with or without our involvement. So in order to try 0:02:41.840 --> 0:02:45.680 and guide us towards being more amazing and less terrible, 0:02:46.200 --> 0:02:48.600 very smart people got together to come up with some 0:02:48.680 --> 0:02:54.000 basic rules that we should all follow. Basic vague rules, 0:02:54.040 --> 0:02:57.480 but they were kind of vague on purpose. Now recently 0:02:57.960 --> 0:03:01.359 those rules got a bit of any extension with the 0:03:01.440 --> 0:03:06.120 Artemis Accords, a collection of guidelines for lunar exploration, you know, 0:03:06.200 --> 0:03:10.240 like exploring the Moon, and those were developed by NASA. Now, 0:03:10.240 --> 0:03:12.919 as I record this, NASA has announced that eight countries, 0:03:12.960 --> 0:03:16.280 including the United States, have signed the Accords. There are 0:03:16.320 --> 0:03:20.959 some notable absences in those eight countries, some that might 0:03:21.040 --> 0:03:24.280 change over time and a couple that probably won't. But 0:03:24.520 --> 0:03:28.320 we'll get to all that first. Why do we need 0:03:28.560 --> 0:03:31.480 rules in the first place. Early in the history of 0:03:31.520 --> 0:03:35.040 the space exploration there really were just two big countries 0:03:35.600 --> 0:03:38.480 that we're making any progress at all, and those two 0:03:38.480 --> 0:03:43.200 countries were the United States and the then Soviet Union. 0:03:43.680 --> 0:03:48.160 Complicating matters is that the USA and then US s R. 0:03:48.400 --> 0:03:51.880 We're not the best of buddies, to put it lightly. 0:03:52.160 --> 0:03:54.200 In fact, the two nations were in the middle of 0:03:54.320 --> 0:03:57.800 the Cold War, which was defined as the open rivalry 0:03:57.920 --> 0:04:02.880 between nations that doesn't reached the point of open hostilities. 0:04:03.400 --> 0:04:08.080 The Cold War was an era of propaganda. It was 0:04:08.120 --> 0:04:13.760 an era of posturing, political maneuvering, and attempts to undermine 0:04:13.840 --> 0:04:17.599 each other, like each country was doing this actively against 0:04:17.680 --> 0:04:20.600 the other country. I grew up at the tail end 0:04:20.839 --> 0:04:24.119 of the Cold War, and it was not a fun time. 0:04:24.240 --> 0:04:27.640 And you could convincingly argue that we're seeing kind of 0:04:27.680 --> 0:04:30.640 a similar situation today between the United States and a 0:04:30.640 --> 0:04:33.400 couple of other countries. But that's a matter for a 0:04:33.400 --> 0:04:37.440 political podcast, not for tech stuff. However, it's important to 0:04:37.560 --> 0:04:42.640 note that the rush to space wasn't just about demonstrating 0:04:42.680 --> 0:04:47.440 technical superiority over an adversary, though that did play into 0:04:47.480 --> 0:04:51.000 it a lot. There were also some pretty heavy implications 0:04:51.040 --> 0:04:54.880 that go along with the capability of launching stuff into space. 0:04:55.480 --> 0:04:58.400 So by the nineteen fifties, the Soviet Union had developed 0:04:58.400 --> 0:05:02.120 its own nuclear weapons, and when the USSR launched the 0:05:02.160 --> 0:05:04.920 first man made satellite to orbit the Earth, you know, 0:05:05.200 --> 0:05:09.080 spoot Nick, that was in October nineteen fifty seven. And 0:05:09.120 --> 0:05:13.040 if the Soviets could launch a payload into space, they 0:05:13.080 --> 0:05:17.400 might also be able to mount a nuclear warhead onto 0:05:17.560 --> 0:05:21.480 a ballistic missile and send it across the world. You know, 0:05:21.720 --> 0:05:24.479 like at the United States, there would be no need 0:05:24.560 --> 0:05:29.400 to load up bombers aircraft to carry nuclear weapons. Those 0:05:29.440 --> 0:05:32.200 could be intercepted and shot down before they could deploy 0:05:32.279 --> 0:05:36.279 their weapons. So this was a terrifying possibility, the idea 0:05:36.360 --> 0:05:39.440 of a nation being able to press up button, so 0:05:39.480 --> 0:05:43.280 to speak, and send a volley of missiles armed with 0:05:43.400 --> 0:05:46.080 nuclear warheads all the way across the world, and it 0:05:46.200 --> 0:05:49.159 ushered in not just the space race, but also helped 0:05:49.240 --> 0:05:52.400 boost the nuclear arms race and the escalation of the 0:05:52.400 --> 0:05:58.800 philosophy of mutually assured destruction, a truly awful awful approach 0:05:59.160 --> 0:06:02.200 to world peace, the idea of well, we have to 0:06:02.240 --> 0:06:06.000 be peaceful because otherwise we will literally obliterate one another. 0:06:06.600 --> 0:06:09.919 Not exactly comforting if you're a little kid. And so, 0:06:10.480 --> 0:06:13.960 partly to demonstrate that the US was just as capable 0:06:14.080 --> 0:06:17.440 as the Soviet Union when it comes to long distance rocketry, 0:06:17.520 --> 0:06:21.120 and partly to attempt to secure the coveted title of 0:06:21.240 --> 0:06:25.200 most technologically and scientifically advanced nation on Earth. We saw 0:06:25.240 --> 0:06:28.480 a lot of rapid development in the fledgling space industry 0:06:28.520 --> 0:06:32.440 in the United States. Now, don't get me wrong. While 0:06:32.600 --> 0:06:36.800 the motivation to fund such development may have come from 0:06:36.920 --> 0:06:40.320 less noble origins, the people who are actually working to 0:06:40.520 --> 0:06:45.400 achieve what seemed impossible. We're mostly focusing on solving difficult 0:06:45.440 --> 0:06:49.520 engineering problems. They were using math and science and technology 0:06:49.520 --> 0:06:54.480 and human ingenuity to do some really incredible stuff. Meanwhile, 0:06:55.240 --> 0:06:57.719 some began to think ahead a little bit about the 0:06:57.720 --> 0:07:03.520 implications of base capability. If we were to send satellites 0:07:03.560 --> 0:07:07.279 and later people into space, we might one day also 0:07:07.360 --> 0:07:12.880 send other stuff out there, weapons, for example, or colonists, 0:07:13.240 --> 0:07:16.640 or mining operations, or all sorts of things. And there 0:07:16.640 --> 0:07:20.160 were no guidelines or laws about that. I mean, who 0:07:20.240 --> 0:07:24.880 the heck has jurisdiction out in space? The space cops 0:07:25.760 --> 0:07:29.920 someone called red letter media, and so representatives in the 0:07:30.000 --> 0:07:33.720 United Nations began to work out language that would help 0:07:33.800 --> 0:07:38.000 set expectations when it came to space travel and use 0:07:38.120 --> 0:07:41.880 the United Nations considerable clout to convince member nations to 0:07:42.000 --> 0:07:46.360 sign on in agreement. And some nations this would be 0:07:46.480 --> 0:07:50.400 less of a lift than for other nations. Because many 0:07:50.480 --> 0:07:53.440 countries were more or less bystanders with the space race. 0:07:53.520 --> 0:07:57.400 They didn't really have any involvement in the space industry. 0:07:57.480 --> 0:08:01.160 So they could sign a treaty, but you could argue 0:08:01.160 --> 0:08:05.640 it wasn't really meaningful because they weren't pursuing space exploration 0:08:05.760 --> 0:08:09.200 or any sort of space industry. But the UN established 0:08:09.240 --> 0:08:13.080 there needed to be some ground rules for space. Ground 0:08:13.160 --> 0:08:15.680 rules for space. Well, I feel it's that's not just 0:08:15.720 --> 0:08:19.320 a weird phrase, but possibly an early discarded David Bowie 0:08:19.480 --> 0:08:23.840 song ground rules for space. I'm getting off track. This 0:08:24.280 --> 0:08:27.600 would ultimately lead to the drafting of what we would 0:08:27.680 --> 0:08:31.040 call the Outer Space Treaty, but even that had a 0:08:31.080 --> 0:08:36.320 few predecessors. So for example, nineteen one years before the 0:08:36.360 --> 0:08:40.000 Outer Space Treaty of nineteen sixty seven, during the sixteenth 0:08:40.040 --> 0:08:43.160 session of the General Assembly of the United Nations, the 0:08:43.280 --> 0:08:47.640 UN adopted a resolution called seventeen twenty one UH. The 0:08:47.640 --> 0:08:50.400 Assembly did this without a vote. I should add, and 0:08:50.440 --> 0:08:55.960 this resolution begins quote the General Assembly recognizing the common 0:08:56.000 --> 0:08:59.240 interest of mankind and furthering the peaceful uses of outer 0:08:59.360 --> 0:09:03.520 space and the urgent need to strengthen international cooperation in 0:09:03.559 --> 0:09:07.560 this important field. Believing that the exploration and use of 0:09:07.559 --> 0:09:10.439 outer space should be only for the betterment of mankind 0:09:10.800 --> 0:09:13.880 and to the benefit of States, irrespective of the stage 0:09:13.920 --> 0:09:17.920 of their economic or scientific development, commends to states for 0:09:18.120 --> 0:09:21.080 their guidance in the exploration and use of outer space. 0:09:21.160 --> 0:09:24.880 The following principles international law, including the Charter of the 0:09:24.960 --> 0:09:29.200 United Nations, applies to outer space and celestial bodies. Outer 0:09:29.280 --> 0:09:32.440 space and celestial bodies are free for exploration and use 0:09:32.600 --> 0:09:35.920 by all states in conformity with international law, and are 0:09:35.960 --> 0:09:40.200 not subject to national appropriation. The resolution goes on to 0:09:40.400 --> 0:09:43.840 invite a committee one called the Peaceful Uses of Outer 0:09:44.040 --> 0:09:50.760 Space to research potential legal problems and their solutions. Subsequent resolutions, 0:09:50.800 --> 0:09:55.920 such as Resolution eighteen zero two and Resolution nineteen sixty 0:09:56.000 --> 0:10:00.840 two would further emphasize that space exploration should be treated 0:10:00.920 --> 0:10:04.160 as an endeavor with the goal of benefiting all people's 0:10:04.240 --> 0:10:07.760 of Earth, not just the individual nations that were involved 0:10:07.760 --> 0:10:11.240 in the actual pursuit of space exploration. Moreover, that the 0:10:11.280 --> 0:10:15.560 guiding principles should be overall peaceful. As this was going on, 0:10:15.960 --> 0:10:20.480 the United States and the Soviet Union continued their space race, 0:10:20.520 --> 0:10:22.920 with the Soviets getting a bunch of firsts like the 0:10:22.960 --> 0:10:26.240 first human in orbit UH and the first spacewalk, but 0:10:26.360 --> 0:10:29.560 the US wasn't far behind and registered a few firsts 0:10:29.559 --> 0:10:32.880 of its own, including the first case of two spacecraft 0:10:33.040 --> 0:10:37.640 docking while in space. Moreover, in nineteen sixty two, President 0:10:37.720 --> 0:10:40.560 John F. Kennedy famously declared that by the end of 0:10:40.600 --> 0:10:44.040 that decade, the United States would put astronauts on the 0:10:44.040 --> 0:10:47.760 Moon's surface. At the same time, the world was growing 0:10:47.960 --> 0:10:51.480 far more tense as the US and uss ARE were 0:10:51.559 --> 0:10:54.960 ramping up the Cold War. Here on Earth. The US 0:10:55.040 --> 0:10:58.440 had installed ballistic missiles and countries like Turkey and Italy 0:10:58.600 --> 0:11:01.640 that were capable of reaching locations within the Soviet Union. 0:11:01.960 --> 0:11:05.880 The United States had also partly funded an invasion of 0:11:05.960 --> 0:11:09.280 Cuba to try and depose Fidel Castro in the Bay 0:11:09.280 --> 0:11:13.360 of Pigs invasion. The reasons behind this go well beyond 0:11:13.640 --> 0:11:16.680 the scope of our podcast, but a consequence of that 0:11:16.800 --> 0:11:20.440 action was that Castro would reach out to the Soviet 0:11:20.520 --> 0:11:23.920 Union and ask that the USSR installed nuclear weapons on 0:11:24.000 --> 0:11:28.480 Cuba as a deterrent for any future invasion attempts, and 0:11:28.600 --> 0:11:33.360 the USSR agreed and began to ship and kind of 0:11:33.360 --> 0:11:36.920 smuggle nuclear weapons into Cuba. And Cuba is just a 0:11:37.000 --> 0:11:39.040 hundred miles or so off the coast of Florida in 0:11:39.080 --> 0:11:42.440 the United States, and the nuclear arming of Cuba led 0:11:42.480 --> 0:11:47.199 to a series of hurried and tense talks that fortunately 0:11:47.800 --> 0:11:51.360 resulted in the uss ARE withdrawing weapons from Cuba and 0:11:51.400 --> 0:11:54.240 the US dismantling the weapons it had placed in Europe. 0:11:54.679 --> 0:11:58.120 But historians point to the crisis as the closest that 0:11:58.200 --> 0:12:01.960 the two nations ever got to act initiating a nuclear war. 0:12:02.760 --> 0:12:06.360 While the Cuban missile crisis ended without a war, the 0:12:06.400 --> 0:12:12.080 antagonism between the United States and the USSR was undeniable, 0:12:12.440 --> 0:12:16.839 and with both nations launching missions into space, committees within 0:12:17.000 --> 0:12:20.480 the United Nations felt compelled to outline a more thorough 0:12:20.520 --> 0:12:24.160 set of rules regarding space exploration and how space should 0:12:24.200 --> 0:12:28.559 be treated from a political and global perspective. And that's 0:12:28.559 --> 0:12:33.400 how the Outer Space Treaty of nineteen sixty seven, otherwise 0:12:33.440 --> 0:12:37.080 known as the Treaty on Principles governing the Activities of 0:12:37.160 --> 0:12:40.840 States in the exploration and use of outer space, including 0:12:40.840 --> 0:12:44.440 the Moon and other celestial bodies, would come about. The 0:12:44.520 --> 0:12:48.160 United Nations opened the Treaty for signatures in three locations 0:12:48.440 --> 0:12:53.360 on January nineteen sixty seven. Those three locations were Washington, 0:12:53.480 --> 0:12:57.480 d C. In the United States, London in England, and 0:12:57.600 --> 0:13:02.400 Moscow in the Soviet Union. Like the earlier resolutions, the 0:13:02.440 --> 0:13:06.800 Outer Space Treaty largely lays out general rules for space exploration, 0:13:07.200 --> 0:13:11.360 with the focus on peaceful applications that benefit all of humanity, 0:13:11.520 --> 0:13:15.120 rather than space exploring nations hoarding knowledge and resources just 0:13:15.280 --> 0:13:19.000 for their grubby, own little selves. It also laid out 0:13:19.120 --> 0:13:22.400 general rules that no one can claim any part of 0:13:22.440 --> 0:13:24.880 space as part of the nation. You can't, you know, 0:13:25.040 --> 0:13:28.240 map out a sector of space and say this belongs 0:13:28.280 --> 0:13:32.360 to Germany, or I claim the Moon for Luxembourg. I mean, 0:13:32.400 --> 0:13:34.640 you could say it, but if you sign the treaty, 0:13:34.640 --> 0:13:37.080 everyone would give you mad side eyed and say bro 0:13:37.240 --> 0:13:40.720 for reals, non reality. There would be a lot of 0:13:40.720 --> 0:13:44.400 pressure here on Earth, and not just atmospheric pressure, so 0:13:44.840 --> 0:13:47.360 they would say, you know, just play nice, don't don't 0:13:47.520 --> 0:13:50.679 do that. Also, claiming any part of space would be 0:13:50.800 --> 0:13:53.960 really hard to back up. But then this treaty was 0:13:54.000 --> 0:13:56.840 made in part as an effort to prevent potential conflicts 0:13:56.840 --> 0:14:00.439 in the future, rather than as a response to a 0:14:00.520 --> 0:14:05.439 current crisis, so this was kind of future proofing space exploration. Now, 0:14:05.440 --> 0:14:10.079 there are seventeen articles in that Outer Space Treaty, and 0:14:10.120 --> 0:14:13.880 I'm going to summarize them quickly just give you an 0:14:13.880 --> 0:14:17.240 overview of which what each one is. So the first 0:14:17.559 --> 0:14:20.360 is that bit I talked about where space exploration results 0:14:20.600 --> 0:14:24.720 should be done with the goal of benefiting all peoples 0:14:24.840 --> 0:14:27.640 of all countries, whether or not those countries are in 0:14:27.680 --> 0:14:31.560 the space exploration biz. Second is the bit that says 0:14:31.600 --> 0:14:34.880 no nation can claim sovereignty over any part of space. 0:14:34.920 --> 0:14:38.960 That's article too. The third is that space exploration should 0:14:39.000 --> 0:14:42.880 be conducted within the parameters of established international laws. So, 0:14:42.920 --> 0:14:45.360 in other words, if it's illegal in the middle of 0:14:45.400 --> 0:14:48.600 the ocean, where no single nation really has dominion, it 0:14:48.640 --> 0:14:51.880 would also be illegal in space. The next article says 0:14:51.920 --> 0:14:55.560 putting nuclear weapons or any other weapons of mass destruction 0:14:55.600 --> 0:14:59.280 in orbit around Earth is a big no no. You're 0:14:59.280 --> 0:15:02.800 also not allowed to put military installations on celestial bodies 0:15:02.840 --> 0:15:06.040 like the Moon. And then the next article states that 0:15:06.200 --> 0:15:09.840 astronauts are envoys for all of humanity and that should 0:15:09.880 --> 0:15:15.160 an astronaut need emergency assistance, any capable country should agree 0:15:15.200 --> 0:15:18.920 to help, regardless of where the astronaut is from back 0:15:18.960 --> 0:15:22.360 on Earth. So, in other words, if if a Soviet 0:15:22.400 --> 0:15:28.360 cosmonaut were in danger, then and an American crew had 0:15:28.440 --> 0:15:31.840 the opportunity to help, the cosmonaut, it would be the 0:15:31.920 --> 0:15:36.720 responsibility of the Americans to lend that help, regardless of 0:15:36.720 --> 0:15:39.360 whether or not the political tensions between the United States 0:15:39.400 --> 0:15:43.040 and the USSR were, you know, at all time high. 0:15:43.320 --> 0:15:47.440 Article six says that countries will be held responsible for 0:15:47.520 --> 0:15:51.080 any activities they conduct in outer space, whether those come 0:15:51.160 --> 0:15:55.640 from a government origin or from a non governmental entity 0:15:55.720 --> 0:15:59.760 within the country. So, in other words, if a company 0:15:59.800 --> 0:16:02.520 like Coca Cola were to install nuclear weapons on the 0:16:02.560 --> 0:16:05.040 Moon as part of the Cola Wars, you know, they 0:16:05.120 --> 0:16:08.040 really ramped up, the United States would be held accountable 0:16:08.040 --> 0:16:11.400 for that transgression because Coca Cola's headquarters are right down 0:16:11.440 --> 0:16:15.760 the street for me. Seven. Article seven states that if 0:16:15.760 --> 0:16:18.720 you launch something and in the process of the launch 0:16:18.760 --> 0:16:23.000 you cause damage to some other country, it's tots your 0:16:23.040 --> 0:16:27.080 fault and you need to exchange insurance information. Article eight 0:16:27.320 --> 0:16:31.000 is that if you launch it into space, that thing 0:16:31.160 --> 0:16:33.480 is yours. It belongs to you, and it doesn't matter 0:16:33.520 --> 0:16:37.320 how far away it gets from you. If it goes 0:16:37.400 --> 0:16:40.440 out of the Solar System, it still belongs to you. 0:16:41.120 --> 0:16:45.160 Article nine says that all nations agreed to explore space responsibly, 0:16:45.440 --> 0:16:48.960 taking care not to interfere with any other nations activities 0:16:48.960 --> 0:16:53.240 in space as well as avoid bringing potentially contaminating material 0:16:53.280 --> 0:16:55.920 back to Earth. So essentially, this is like I'm drawing 0:16:55.960 --> 0:16:58.080 a line down the middle of space, and that side 0:16:58.120 --> 0:17:00.920 is yours and this side is mine. Not not so 0:17:01.000 --> 0:17:03.760 much that, but more like, here's a little imaginary border 0:17:03.800 --> 0:17:06.240 around what I'm doing. Please don't go across it because 0:17:06.240 --> 0:17:09.560 you might hurt what's going on, and everyone's supposed to, 0:17:09.640 --> 0:17:12.760 you know, kind of agree to that. All right, So 0:17:12.760 --> 0:17:15.399 we're about halfway through the articles, but I think I 0:17:15.440 --> 0:17:19.400 need to drink some tang. That's a space joke, So 0:17:19.560 --> 0:17:30.199 let's take a quick break. All right. We're up to 0:17:30.480 --> 0:17:35.040 Article ten of the nineteen sixty seven Space Treaty that 0:17:35.080 --> 0:17:39.560 one says that space exploring nations shall quote consider, on 0:17:39.640 --> 0:17:43.119 a basis of equality, any requests by any other states 0:17:43.200 --> 0:17:46.520 parties to the Treaty to be afforded an opportunity to 0:17:46.600 --> 0:17:50.520 observe the flight of space objects launched by those states 0:17:50.640 --> 0:17:53.480 end quote. In other words, to share expertise when it 0:17:53.520 --> 0:17:57.119 comes to stuff like spacecraft flying through and stuff. You 0:17:57.440 --> 0:18:01.520 can't prevent other countries from serving what you're doing. It's 0:18:01.600 --> 0:18:05.200 kind of a transparency argument. Article eleven This one says 0:18:05.240 --> 0:18:08.600 that nations should share the results of their space exploration 0:18:08.640 --> 0:18:12.000 work with the Secretary General of the United Nations, who 0:18:12.000 --> 0:18:15.639 then has a responsibility to disseminate that information to the 0:18:15.640 --> 0:18:18.639 other nations that are within the u N. So essentially saying, 0:18:19.000 --> 0:18:21.240 if you learn something cool, you've got to share it 0:18:21.240 --> 0:18:24.200 with the rest of the class. Article twelve says that 0:18:24.280 --> 0:18:27.560 if a nation allows members of another nation into their 0:18:27.760 --> 0:18:31.679 space stuff in outer space, it's expected that the visitor 0:18:31.800 --> 0:18:35.719 will extend the same courtesy to the host reciprocity. In 0:18:35.720 --> 0:18:39.360 other words, Article thirteen covers cases in which there may 0:18:39.359 --> 0:18:43.760 be an international inter governmental organization or a group of 0:18:43.840 --> 0:18:47.480 organizations working together, and how to resolve any questions or 0:18:47.560 --> 0:18:51.479 issues between these should they come up. The actual wording 0:18:51.520 --> 0:18:53.720 is a bit clunky, but essentially tries to create a 0:18:53.760 --> 0:18:57.840 way to work out any issues before they graduate from 0:18:57.840 --> 0:19:02.040 issues and become full blown problems. Article fourteen just covers 0:19:02.080 --> 0:19:05.320 the process of signing the treaty, saying that even if 0:19:05.320 --> 0:19:08.760 a state doesn't sign the treaty before it's enforced, it 0:19:08.800 --> 0:19:12.560 can join at any point afterwards, so it's no sweat 0:19:12.600 --> 0:19:15.640 if you couldn't hoof it to Washington Moscow or London, 0:19:15.760 --> 0:19:20.000 you can sign it later. Fifteen says that any state 0:19:20.080 --> 0:19:23.400 that signs the treaty may propose amendments to the treaty. 0:19:24.040 --> 0:19:27.640 Article sixteen says the nation can withdraw from the treaty, 0:19:27.680 --> 0:19:30.400 but only after the treaty has been in force for 0:19:30.480 --> 0:19:33.320 a full year. So after it's been signed by enough 0:19:33.359 --> 0:19:37.280 signatories to be put in force, you could wait a year. 0:19:37.640 --> 0:19:41.960 Then you could announce your intention to withdraw from the treaty, 0:19:42.000 --> 0:19:44.840 and the date of actual withdrawal would be a another 0:19:44.960 --> 0:19:47.119 year from the date of request. So, in other words, 0:19:47.520 --> 0:19:51.040 the very earliest you could back out after you signed 0:19:51.040 --> 0:19:53.399 the treaty would be two years after the treaty was 0:19:53.440 --> 0:19:57.320 actually put into force. And finally, Article seventeen covers how 0:19:57.400 --> 0:20:01.520 the treaty is made available in various languages and locations 0:20:01.560 --> 0:20:05.600 and authenticated so that the nations of the United Nations 0:20:05.600 --> 0:20:07.760 can actually read the ding dang durn thing. It's just 0:20:08.080 --> 0:20:11.080 like here's where it lives kind of deal. Now, since 0:20:11.119 --> 0:20:13.560 the U N entered the treaty into force, more than 0:20:13.640 --> 0:20:17.600 one nations have signed it, and politics being what they are, 0:20:17.840 --> 0:20:21.560 some of the nations that had signed it are, you know, 0:20:22.160 --> 0:20:26.240 no longer nations Today, it's changed, and some nations that 0:20:26.400 --> 0:20:30.040 have signed it didn't exist as sovereign nations at least 0:20:30.359 --> 0:20:34.040 back in ninety seven. So I guess the fluid nature 0:20:34.080 --> 0:20:37.120 of humanity points to why the treaty was a good 0:20:37.160 --> 0:20:40.160 idea in the first place. The u N would consider 0:20:40.200 --> 0:20:44.600 subsequent rules for space exploration to expand on this space 0:20:44.640 --> 0:20:47.399 Treaty in the following years. Some of those would be 0:20:47.480 --> 0:20:52.440 ratified by space exploring nations and some were not. For example, 0:20:52.880 --> 0:20:56.840 there's the Agreement governing the Activities of States on the 0:20:56.880 --> 0:21:00.520 Moon and other celestial bodies, also known as just the 0:21:00.520 --> 0:21:04.359 Moon Agreement, which the u N opened for signatures in 0:21:04.480 --> 0:21:08.280 December of nineteen seventy nine. It took several years for 0:21:08.320 --> 0:21:11.240 the measure to receive the five signatures it would need 0:21:11.280 --> 0:21:14.720 to enter into force, with Austria being the fifth in July. 0:21:16.520 --> 0:21:20.320 Since its introduction, no nation that has actually sent missions, 0:21:20.960 --> 0:21:24.320 manned or otherwise to the Moon at least successfully has 0:21:24.359 --> 0:21:27.960 signed on. That means that while the treaty has entered 0:21:28.000 --> 0:21:31.720 into force, none of the countries that are actually sending 0:21:31.720 --> 0:21:35.439 stuff to the Moon have signed onto that part that 0:21:35.600 --> 0:21:40.200 particular agreement, which makes it largely meaningless. Though, I should 0:21:40.200 --> 0:21:43.800 point out that India, which does have a space program 0:21:43.960 --> 0:21:47.439 but has failed in a recent attempt to send a 0:21:47.720 --> 0:21:51.840 lunar mission, did sign it, or is at least participating 0:21:51.840 --> 0:21:55.159 in the agreement, but has not as of yet ratified 0:21:55.200 --> 0:21:59.960 the agreement. So why is that? Why are the country 0:22:00.000 --> 0:22:02.520 reads that actually are sending stuff to the Moon. Why 0:22:02.560 --> 0:22:07.000 have they not signed on with this agreement that's been 0:22:07.560 --> 0:22:11.439 available since nineteen nine. Well, many of the provisions of 0:22:11.440 --> 0:22:13.960 the agreement kind of fall in line with the older 0:22:14.000 --> 0:22:16.960 Space Treaty, you know, it's more of the same, but 0:22:17.000 --> 0:22:19.560 they extend it to not just the Moon but also 0:22:19.680 --> 0:22:23.360 lunar orbit. Now, if I'm reading the original treaty correctly, 0:22:23.400 --> 0:22:26.479 I think you could reasonably argue that lunar orbit counts 0:22:26.480 --> 0:22:30.400 as space. Therefore prohibiting stuff like the deployment of nuclear 0:22:30.440 --> 0:22:34.600 weapons and lunar orbit is somewhat redundant, because the original 0:22:34.600 --> 0:22:37.360 treaty says you're not supposed to do that in space period. 0:22:38.119 --> 0:22:41.000 But my point being that the Moon Agreement was making 0:22:41.040 --> 0:22:42.919 a point of saying the Moon is not to be 0:22:43.000 --> 0:22:48.680 weaponized or leveraged for militaristic purposes. Perhaps Article seven of 0:22:48.720 --> 0:22:52.000 the Moon agreement is where actual nations that had been 0:22:52.040 --> 0:22:57.719 sending lunar missions started to feel a reluctance to sign on. 0:22:58.280 --> 0:23:01.760 That article states the countries sending up Moon missions quote 0:23:02.119 --> 0:23:05.680 shall take measures to prevent the disruption of the existing 0:23:05.720 --> 0:23:09.639 balance of its environment end quote, which might be seen 0:23:09.800 --> 0:23:12.280 as too great a limitation by some nations that are 0:23:12.400 --> 0:23:16.600 determined to exploit the Moon's resources. But I really think 0:23:16.960 --> 0:23:21.240 it was Article eleven that did it. That article states, quote, 0:23:21.480 --> 0:23:25.000 the Moon and its natural resources are the common heritage 0:23:25.040 --> 0:23:28.919 of mankind, which finds its expression in the provisions of 0:23:28.960 --> 0:23:31.920 this agreement end quote. And then it goes on to say, 0:23:32.000 --> 0:23:35.520 quote neither the surface nor the subsurface of the Moon, 0:23:35.680 --> 0:23:39.320 nor any part thereof, or natural resources in place, shall 0:23:39.400 --> 0:23:44.159 become property of any state, international, in, inter governmental or 0:23:44.280 --> 0:23:50.439 non governmental organization, notational organization, or non governmental entity, or 0:23:50.520 --> 0:23:55.080 of any natural person end quote. So, in other words, 0:23:55.359 --> 0:23:59.639 while the agreement doesn't expressly forbid mining the Moon for resources, 0:24:00.040 --> 0:24:03.159 the agreement calls for those resources to not belong to 0:24:03.240 --> 0:24:06.440 any one company, person, or nation. You know, it doesn't 0:24:06.440 --> 0:24:09.240 matter who dug it up. It doesn't belong to them. 0:24:09.320 --> 0:24:12.679 It rather belongs to humankind. The article goes on to 0:24:12.720 --> 0:24:17.200 propose an international body that would determine how such resources 0:24:17.400 --> 0:24:20.720 might be put to any use. And I'm guessing that's 0:24:20.720 --> 0:24:22.600 where a lot of the countries that were sending up 0:24:22.640 --> 0:24:27.440 missions to the Moon said, yeah, no thanks, but hey, 0:24:27.440 --> 0:24:30.320 what the heck is up there anyway? I mean, what 0:24:30.560 --> 0:24:35.240 resources could possibly be on the Moon apart from dust 0:24:35.359 --> 0:24:38.520 and some moon rocks, And why would we want to 0:24:38.600 --> 0:24:41.639 spend the resources and incur the risks of such a 0:24:41.640 --> 0:24:45.480 complicated operation in the first place. Well as the m 0:24:45.520 --> 0:24:48.600 I T Technology Review put it in an article titled 0:24:48.880 --> 0:24:51.480 Here's how we could mind the Moon for rocket fuel? 0:24:52.040 --> 0:24:54.879 As a spoiler alert right there, that article published on 0:24:54.960 --> 0:24:58.840 May ninety they said, quote, the Moon is a treasure 0:24:58.880 --> 0:25:03.320 trove of value bowl resources, gold, platinum, and many rare 0:25:03.400 --> 0:25:07.360 earth metals await extraction to be used in next generation electronics. 0:25:07.880 --> 0:25:12.680 Non radioactive helium three could one day power nuclear fusion reactors. 0:25:12.800 --> 0:25:15.159 End quote. Now, it sounds as though a lot of 0:25:15.160 --> 0:25:17.720 those resources would be ones that we would want to 0:25:17.800 --> 0:25:20.600 harvest from the Moon and then bring back to Earth, 0:25:21.119 --> 0:25:23.680 though we have to keep in mind that that approach 0:25:23.680 --> 0:25:27.479