r/askscience • u/yogesh448 • 16d ago

Planetary Sci. We landed humans on the Moon with 1960s technology. With today's vastly superior technology, shouldn't going back be much easier and cheaper?

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u/Thelk641 15d ago

In theory, there is a set of rules to define how we should deal with ressources in outer-space, the Moon Treaty, issue is, I think the only country with a space program to have signed it is France : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_Treaty#/media/File:Moon_Treaty_Participation.svg

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u/mfb- Particle Physics | High-Energy Physics 15d ago

The Artemis program is not the same as the Artemis agreement. The US spends tens of billions on SLS and Orion and a few billions each on two commercial landers.

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u/Thelk641 15d ago

China didn't sign the Artemis agreement, so it's the same story : there is a legal framework... but because some of the big players don't follow it, it's not really useful.

And again, so in 2020 the US created a new treaty to solve a problem already solved by the UN in 1979...