OREANDA-NEWS.  Jim Bridenstein, the head of NASA, said that mining on the moon is like fishing for tuna. He explained his comparison during a videoconference in Washington center for International and Strategic Studies by saying that the ocean doesn’t belong to anyone. But if you make some efforts to catch tuna, you’ll have it, although the ocean itself is not yours, and its sovereignty isn’t violated as well. The same can be applied to the mining moon. According to the 1967 Outer Space Treaty the moon, as well as the other space object, can not belong to anyone, but at the same time someone can mine on it without owning it.

Earlier this month NASA announced they were going to buy lunar soil from private companies that are able to get it. NASA representatives hope that such projects will be possible until 2024 but their price isn’t known yet.

Jim Bridenstein also remembered about 2015 law signed by President Barack Obama and approved by the US Congress that the US government should encourage commercial exploration, output and use of space resources by US citizens.