Militaries support Lunapolitical order, not dominate it: A legitimate Lunapolitical architecture can ensure broad international support so long as it advances a predominantly civil and economic agenda.

It is essential that a durable Lunapolitical architecture can withstand shifting alliances and changed interests.Ĩ. Lunapolitical alliances will constantly shift and evolve: As on Earth, Lunapolitical alliances are not permanent and will inevitably change with shifting political and economic interests. A Lunapolitical architecture should enshrine principles and practices that promote its political, economic, and environmental sustainability.ħ. It will also promote sustainable activity and presence on the moon: Humanity’s poor environmental legacy on Earth should not be replicated on the moon, or elsewhere in the Solar System and beyond. Unilateral demands or conditions that certain actors not be permitted access to the moon is a shortcut to delegitimizing any agreed-upon architecture.Ħ. Legitimate Lunapolitics will allow freedom of passage to the moon for all: With sufficient farsightedness, a legitimate Lunapolitical architecture will ensure freedom of passage and navigation between the Earth and the moon for any country or company capable of doing so. While Lunaeconomics will be an important component of Lunapolitics, narrow business interests on the moon should not dictate wider and longer-term strategic and political interests of lunar powers.ĥ. Lunapolitics is economic as much as it political: Just as geopolitics on Earth has a significant geoeconomic component, Lunapolitics will have a considerable Lunaeconomic agenda that will require a deep understanding of the evolving political economy and business dynamics of, on, and around the moon.

It is most probable, therefore, that the United States and China will be the leading Lunapolitical powers.Ĥ. These conditions include space launch facilities that provide routine access to cislunar space a highly educated and motivated workforce a vibrant and developed economy and business climate and an advanced scientific, technological, and industrial base. Lunapolitical power is predicated on geopolitical power on Earth: The largest Lunapolitical powers of the future will be those who possess the favorable geopolitical conditions on Earth today that allow them to be space powers.

The Artemis Accords could be the basis for this, but they do not entitle the United States to a leadership role America could find itself isolated should it disregard the legitimate concerns and interests of other countries, including those of China and Russia.ģ. Currently, the United States is the prime mover of Lunapolitics: It is the only space power today capable of mustering the technological capability, financial resources, and diplomatic will to establish the foundation for a broadly acceptable Lunapolitical framework. Lunapolitics is essentially the management of this competition.Ģ. The alternative risks a zero-sum, overtly militarized scramble for the moon that benefits no one over the long-term. Political and Economic competition for the moon is generally a positive phenomenon: Competition is healthy, yet competition for the moon needs rules of the road and agreed-upon principles undergirded by widely accepted space law, especially the 1967 Outer Space Treaty. With this increasing importance of Lunapolitics, I offer the following 10 points for consideration by those tasked with creating the political and economic framework for our future on the moon:ġ.

Lunapolitics is the equivalent of geopolitics, and it is a growing and important reality that will keep diplomats, executives, and strategists busy for decades to come. The competitors are primarily the United States and China, but also Europe, Japan, India, and Russia, as well as companies hoping to mine the moon’s resources. This renewed competition for the moon is the basis for the rise of Lunapolitics: where political and economic interests intersect with the topography and physical properties of the moon, from its subsurface through to cislunar space. These powers aim - perhaps even in this decade - to establish a permanent human presence on the moon’s surface and in its orbit, and exploit lunar resources for economic benefit. The moon is again the object of competition between major space powers.

Deliver us the moon helium 3 reactor