US Prez Trump signs executive order for recovery

US President Donald Trump has signed a new executive order aimed at encouraging international support for its policy allowing private industry for recovery and use of space resources from the Moon, Mars and other celestial bodies. Scott Pace, Deputy Assistant to the President and Executive Secretary of the National Space Council said that this Executive Order establishes US policy toward the recovery and use of space resources, such as water and certain minerals, in order to encourage the commercial development of space.

The executive order titled 'Encouraging International Support For The Recovery And Use Of Space Resources' will create long-time suitability in the human exploration of Moon, Mars and other celestial bodies. The order reaffirms US support for the 1967 Outer Space Treaty while continuing to



reject the 1979 Moon Agreement, which only 17 of the 95 Member States of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space have ratified in the past four decades.

The order further clarifies that the United States does not view outer space as a 'global commons,' and it reinforces the 2015 decision by Congress that Americans should have the right to engage in the commercial exploration, recovery, and use of resources in outer space.

The order also says that the US is not part of the moon agreement. The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted Moon Resolution says that Moon and other celestial bodies should be used exclusively for peaceful purposes and their environments should not be disrupted.