# Strategies for Lunar Development  ## Metadata - Author: Jeff Foust - Full Title: Strategies for Lunar Development - Category: #articles - Document Tags: #lunar #military-strategy #politics & society #science #spacepower #technology - Summary: NASA’s Artemis lunar program faces uncertainty as the U.S. government shifts focus toward Mars and commercial involvement in the Moon. The Lunar Development Cooperative (LDC) is a new idea to create shared lunar infrastructure funded by both governments and companies, with rules to manage use and avoid conflicts. However, experts question the economic value of lunar resources and human presence, suggesting lunar development may still be many years away. - URL: https://www.thespacereview.com/article/5010/1 ## Highlights - The panel he was on was examining a different approach called the Lunar Development Cooperative, or LDC. The concept is the brainchild of Michael Castle-Miller, who has worked in international development projects known as “special jurisdictions,” like ports and trade zones, set up to stimulate economic growth in a region. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01k63mxf519qm6q71k1dd3rhz6)) - The benefits of the LDC, they argue, go beyond financing. One thing the LDC would develop is a “site use register” where organizations who are members would record their planned uses of the Moon. Other members of the LDC would pledge not to interfere with those uses. Those rights could be marketable to other members, he added, effectively a form of property rights that gets around the prohibitions in the Outer Space Treaty to countries making territorial claims on the Moon. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01k63mwt5ryet3r9s2ebsnpdgt)) - He envisions that would lead to a “virtuous cycle” where the LDC invests in infrastructure that is in demand for members, increasing the value of the registry and in turn the fees charged to members to support LDC operations. But what about an organization—a company or a country—that doesn’t want to join the LDC? He argued if they tried to operate near LDC infrastructure, they would find themselves in constant conflict with LDC members as it tried to build its own infrastructure. (Or, he added, it could try to seize the LDC infrastructure, something that would lead to “major international backlash.”) More likely, he concluded, that entity would go elsewhere and be undisturbed. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01k63mz80ws2pnx0bmwbwzd8q5))