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A US company is taking what it hopes to be a small step toward 1）eventually mining the moon.
Moon Express， based in Mountain View， California， just released the design for a small robot spacecraft about the size of a coffee table. It says the robot could move about the moon’s surface powered only by 2）solar panels and 3）hydrogen peroxide.
The company hopes to build the robot and send it to the moon by late 2015， win the $30 million Lunar X Prize注 from Google for the first privately funded moon 4）rover， and will eventually 5）get around to putting on the moon an operation capable of digging up valuable minerals.
Even if all goes as planned， that’s a long way off， says Bob Richards， co-founder of Moon Express. It would take repeated moon missions over the next decade before any mining could begin.
“Everything we fight about on Earth， all the resources are 6）available in unlimited quantities in space，” says Richards， pointing out the moon has 7）platinum and other rare Earth elements. “The moon is the first shopping market next door to us.”
But Moon Express isn’t the only one 8）eyeing the potential business opportunities on the moon. Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic Technology is aiming for the Google Lunar X Prize with space exploration， tourism and resource-harvesting in mind.
There are others in the game， as well. And the United Nations’ Outer Space 9）Treaty of 1967 says anyone is free to harvest resources on the moon， a bit like the 10）high seas.
But Tony Milligan， a 11）teaching fellow of 12）philosophy at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland， argued in a recent paper that the moon shouldn’t be mined unless there are much larger 13）stakes at risk， such as 14）survival of the human race.
“If something 15tremendously valuable were to be found under the pyramids or under the 16）Sphinx we would think of it as a bad idea to go in and 17）shift or remove or destroy these objects in order to get at it，” Milligan says. “I think we should look towards 18）asteroids rather than 19）churning up the moon or Mars.”
一家美国公司迈出了一小步，他们希望这一小步能够最终实现月球采矿。
位于（美国）加利福尼亚州芒廷维尤市的月球快递公司刚刚发布了一艘小型机器飞船的设计图，这艘飞船大约只有一张咖啡桌那么大。该公司表示，这台机器仅需太阳能电池板以及过氧化氢就有足够能量在月球表面四处移动。
该公司希望造出这台机器，在2015年底将它送上月球，并且赢得谷歌为（史上）第一辆民营月球车所设立的“月球X大奖”的三千万美元奖金，最终实现在月球上进行作业，从而开采各种有价值的矿物。
鲍勃·理查兹是月球快递的创始人之一，他表示即使一切能够按计划顺利进行，还有很长一段路要走。在接下来的十年里先要反复进行多次月球任务，在此之后挖矿才有可能得以开展。
“我们在地球上争抢的所有资源——所有这些资源，在宇宙中无穷无尽，”理查兹指出月球上有铂以及其他地球上的稀有元素。“月球就是在我们隔壁的第一家购物中心。”
不过，月球快递并不是唯一一家瞄准月上潜在商机的公司。位于（美国）匹兹堡的宇宙机器人技术公司同样剑指“谷歌月球X大奖”，其着重点放在宇宙探索、太空旅行以及资源采集。
参与这场角逐的还有其他公司。而联合国于1967年签署的《外层空间条约》表示任何人都可以在月球上采集资源，有点像公海那样。
然而，在苏格兰阿伯丁大学的哲学系助教托尼·米利根最近发表了一篇论文。他认为除非出现了更大的危机——比如人类存亡问题，否则不应该在月球上采矿。
“如果在金字塔或者狮身人面像下面发现了非常有价值的东西，为了得到宝藏，要走进去移开、搬走或者破坏这些文物——我们理应认为这个主意十分糟糕，”米利根说道。“我认为我们应该将目光放在小行星上，而不是在月球或者火星上捣乱。”
Moon Express， based in Mountain View， California， just released the design for a small robot spacecraft about the size of a coffee table. It says the robot could move about the moon’s surface powered only by 2）solar panels and 3）hydrogen peroxide.
The company hopes to build the robot and send it to the moon by late 2015， win the $30 million Lunar X Prize注 from Google for the first privately funded moon 4）rover， and will eventually 5）get around to putting on the moon an operation capable of digging up valuable minerals.
Even if all goes as planned， that’s a long way off， says Bob Richards， co-founder of Moon Express. It would take repeated moon missions over the next decade before any mining could begin.
“Everything we fight about on Earth， all the resources are 6）available in unlimited quantities in space，” says Richards， pointing out the moon has 7）platinum and other rare Earth elements. “The moon is the first shopping market next door to us.”
But Moon Express isn’t the only one 8）eyeing the potential business opportunities on the moon. Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic Technology is aiming for the Google Lunar X Prize with space exploration， tourism and resource-harvesting in mind.
There are others in the game， as well. And the United Nations’ Outer Space 9）Treaty of 1967 says anyone is free to harvest resources on the moon， a bit like the 10）high seas.
But Tony Milligan， a 11）teaching fellow of 12）philosophy at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland， argued in a recent paper that the moon shouldn’t be mined unless there are much larger 13）stakes at risk， such as 14）survival of the human race.
“If something 15tremendously valuable were to be found under the pyramids or under the 16）Sphinx we would think of it as a bad idea to go in and 17）shift or remove or destroy these objects in order to get at it，” Milligan says. “I think we should look towards 18）asteroids rather than 19）churning up the moon or Mars.”
一家美国公司迈出了一小步，他们希望这一小步能够最终实现月球采矿。
位于（美国）加利福尼亚州芒廷维尤市的月球快递公司刚刚发布了一艘小型机器飞船的设计图，这艘飞船大约只有一张咖啡桌那么大。该公司表示，这台机器仅需太阳能电池板以及过氧化氢就有足够能量在月球表面四处移动。
该公司希望造出这台机器，在2015年底将它送上月球，并且赢得谷歌为（史上）第一辆民营月球车所设立的“月球X大奖”的三千万美元奖金，最终实现在月球上进行作业，从而开采各种有价值的矿物。
鲍勃·理查兹是月球快递的创始人之一，他表示即使一切能够按计划顺利进行，还有很长一段路要走。在接下来的十年里先要反复进行多次月球任务，在此之后挖矿才有可能得以开展。
“我们在地球上争抢的所有资源——所有这些资源，在宇宙中无穷无尽，”理查兹指出月球上有铂以及其他地球上的稀有元素。“月球就是在我们隔壁的第一家购物中心。”
不过，月球快递并不是唯一一家瞄准月上潜在商机的公司。位于（美国）匹兹堡的宇宙机器人技术公司同样剑指“谷歌月球X大奖”，其着重点放在宇宙探索、太空旅行以及资源采集。
参与这场角逐的还有其他公司。而联合国于1967年签署的《外层空间条约》表示任何人都可以在月球上采集资源，有点像公海那样。
然而，在苏格兰阿伯丁大学的哲学系助教托尼·米利根最近发表了一篇论文。他认为除非出现了更大的危机——比如人类存亡问题，否则不应该在月球上采矿。
“如果在金字塔或者狮身人面像下面发现了非常有价值的东西，为了得到宝藏，要走进去移开、搬走或者破坏这些文物——我们理应认为这个主意十分糟糕，”米利根说道。“我认为我们应该将目光放在小行星上，而不是在月球或者火星上捣乱。”