There has been a lot of new focus on the moon recently, especially with the success of crowdfunding projects like Lunar Mission One and planned commercial endeavors by private companies.
But there are no laws or regulations in place governing the moon or business there.
However, the Federal Aviation Administration has taken its first steps in developing regulations for commercial development on the moon by allowing U.S. companies to stake claims there through the licensing process already in place for space launches.
This comes after one such company, Bigelow Aerospace, started plans for setting up inflatable habitats on the moon's surface by the year 2025, which they would then lease out to businesses, science missions and even private citizens. That company approached the FAA requesting information on what channels they should follow to legally do that.
In a letter to Bigelow, the FAA stated that it would "leverage the FAA's existing launch licensing authority to encourage private sector investments in space systems by ensuring that commercial activities can be conducted on a non-interference basis."
Basically this isn't actual regulation of the moon and the property on it per se, but it does serve as a first step in preventing companies from landing on top of each other and encroaching on each other's territory once they've landed on the lunar surface. And there's also something else to consider: a United Nations treaty governing the moon from 1967. That treaty ruled that countries must regulate all the lunar activities of all non-governmental organizations.
This treaty is probably why the FAA didn't grant an actual license to do business on the moon to Bigelow, but instead approved the company's business on the moon via the launch license.
However, with more organizations considering the moon for future projects, the FAA and the rest of the world, at least those parts of the world interested in commercial business on the moon, may need to work together to develop new regulations governing such space activities.
"It's very much a wild west kind of mentality and approach right now," says John Thornton, CEO of Astrobotic, a Google XPrize contestant looking to offer lunar transportation and services.
Needless to say, the FAA's letter to Bigelow Aerospace doesn't offer the company ownership of the moon or any part of it.
"It just means that somebody else isn't licensed to land on top of you or land on top of where exploration and prospecting activities are going on, which may be quite a distance from the lunar station," states the company.
