Lunar Rights and Resources

How do we establish real property rights in space?


The issue of Lunar property rights is a complex and contentious matter that involves questions about the legality and feasibility of commercial and international entities extracting and utilizing resources from the Moon. As space exploration technologies continue to advance, it will become increasingly important to establish clear and equitable laws and regulatory frameworks for the management of Lunar property rights in order to promote sustainable and responsible space activities.

The goal of this project is to identify and inventory all known Lunar resources and the rights associated with their utilization as they exist today.  This understanding will be used to develop a systematic approach to identifying what “property rights” currently exist with respect to space resources on the Moon. This project will create a living schematic of known Lunar resources that will be revisited periodically and will serve as a reference guide for the evolving field of space resource management.

Key accomplishments

  • Complet
  • Completed the design of the primary user interface and tested the technical components for displaying resource maps.
  • Developed a beta VR experience utilizing Apple Vision Pro.
  • Completed full product development and rolling out beta testing.

Project contact: 

Mark Naufel

Funding years:

2023-2024

Team members

Melissa de Zwart

Professor, Andy Thomas Centre for Space Resources, University of Adelaide

External Co-Lead

Tyler Smith

Director, ASU Luminosity Lab

Mary Hintze

Engineering Associate, ASU Luminosity Lab

Connor Nail

ASU Luminosity Lab, Academic Associate Software Engineer

Miguel Fajardo

Student, Industrial Design (UI/UX)

Vianka Jauregui

Student, Graphic Design

Allen Lin

Student, Computer Science

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