Mining the moon

[OK2]

Off any topic. Would anyone know of the process to territorial ownership for mining the moon. Does any country or organisation already have this right? A friend of mine paid $5 for the fun of owning a certificate of ownership to a parcel of land complete with coordinates on the moon. Only 50 years ago deep sea mining was laughed at!

 

[trading_rookie]

Not sure where I read it, probably some conspiracy theorists' ramblings but apparently the US/NASA wanna stop moon landings as the entire planet is made of gold and they don't wanna devalue the commodity back here on Earth!

So if it's true! [pause] your mates made the investment of the century or the Nigerians have found another way to scam.

 

[Smurf1976]

I could well be wrong here, but to my understanding the moon contains a lot of aluminium? I know that NASA has considered the possibility of using moon resources for literally rocket fuel.

The Earth itself is also the "aluminium planet" however so we're not exactly short on the stuff. At least not to the point that it would make sense to incur huge transport costs mining on the moon.

It could well have other minerals too however...

 

[Happy]

However, if aluminium converted to fuel, would make sense irrespective of availability on planet Earth.

To escape the Earth’s gravity we have to achieve speed of 10.2 km/hour, quarter of that from the Moon
So Moon can be treated as launching pad to deeper space, as cargo payload can be far greater compared to one launched straight from the Earth.

Some reckon, Moon dust could be too bigger problem, thou.

 

[Smurf1976]

However, if aluminium converted to fuel, would make sense irrespective of availability on planet Earth.

To escape the Earth’s gravity we have to achieve speed of 10.2 km/hour, quarter of that from the Moon
So Moon can be treated as launching pad to deeper space, as cargo payload can be far greater compared to one launched straight from the Earth.

Some reckon, Moon dust could be too bigger problem, thou.

That's exactly what NASA are/were looking at.

My point about aluminium is that there would be no point in mining the moon as a source of minerals for use on Earth. Unlike if it had lots of, say, gold or silver which are relatively scarce on Earth.