4 hours agoShareSaveAli Abbas AhmadiBBC News, TorontoShareSaveIntuitive Machines/The Planetary SocietySpace exploration has been a collaborative field over the years, with countries – even rivals, such as the United States and Russia – working together on the International Space Station.But that might be changing, Mr Osinski said. As the prospect of a permanent presence on the Moon becomes more realistic, wider geopolitical questions have begun to swirl around the ownership of the satellite.”There’s more talk around who owns the Moon and space resources,” Mr Osinski said.In 2021, the US passed a law to protect the Apollo Moon landing site “because they had a concern that China could just go and grab the US flag, or take a piece of an Apollo lander”, he said.But he had some encouraging words about the Artemis missions, which are “even way more international than the space station”.The Artemis Accords, which is a set of ideals to promote sustainable and peaceful exploration of outer space, has been signed by more than 50 countries – including ones like Uruguay, Estonia and Rwanda, which are not traditionally seen as key space race nations.Space is also becoming more accessible. Private companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin have taken an increasingly important role and are able to take anyone with the money and barely any training – like Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and pop star Katy Perry – into space for a few minutes.But the Moon is the Holy Grail, as it opens up all sorts of possibilities.Mr Sallaberger said that Canadensys is involved in longer-term projects, such as lunar greenhouses for food production.Those still remain many years in the future, but the rover is a starting point.”If you design something that can survive on the lunar surface long-term, you’re pretty bulletproof anywhere else in the solar system.” …
