Robert Bigelow Calls for FAA to Allow Property Rights for Lunar Mining

Moon Mining Rush Ahead?
A commercial space company wants the U.S. government to give it lunar mining rights.
By Dan Vergano, National Geographic
Published November 13, 2013

The Man Who Sold the Moon? A private space company's chief, Robert Bigelow of Bigelow Aerospace Inc., called for the Federal Aviation Administration to allow property rights for lunar mining, at a Tuesday NASA briefing.

The North Las Vegas, Nevada-based firm already has a contract, announced in January, to provide the U.S. space agency with an experimental inflatable habitat for the International Space Station in 2015.

Now Bigelow, 69, wants private space companies (such as his own and Elon Musk's SpaceX rocket firm) to take a larger role in expanding NASA's astronaut explorations to beyond the space station's orbit. (See "Moon Exploration.")

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National Geographic

(left) Bigelow Aerospace President Robert Bigelow talks during a press conference shortly after he and NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver toured the Bigelow Aerospace facilities on Friday, Feb. 4, 2011, in Las Vegas. NASA has been discussing potential partnership opportunities with Bigelow for its inflatable habitat technologies as part of NASA's goal to develop innovative technologies to ensure that the U.S. remains competitive in future space endeavors. Image courtesy NASA/Bill Ingalls

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Moon Mining Rush Ahead? ~ National Geographic