Billionaires who plan to get filthy rich from mining the MOON are facing one HUGE problem
Our planet's satellite is thought to contain vast amounts of gold and platinum, but it might prove difficult to make money from it
LUNAR prospectors dreaming of getting rich during a gold rush on the MOON could face disappointment, a space law expert has revealed.
Later this year, five space mining companies will send reconnaissance missions to analyse the surface of the moon for valuable gold and platinum.
But those eyeing up the priceless precious metals are unlikely to cash in, thanks to international space law which has existed for several decades, the director of the London Space institute of Property and Law, Professor Sa'id Mosteshar told The Sun Online.
He said: "Once it becomes feasible [to mine the moon] the whole range of space treaties will kick in and the 16 member states that have ratified it will raise an objection to appropriating any part of outer space."
Current space law works similarly to the sea bed treaty, which allows nations to explore the oceans but states that any materials they extract will be pored over to consider how to distribute it fairly.
"There is an international treaty to which virtually every country in the world is a party to and that parties cannot appropriate any part of Space.
"Any individual they authorise to carry out Space activities must be subject to control," Mosteshar added.
His warning comes as one billionaire and his pals boasted that they were one step closer to mining the moon for gold, platinum and rare materials worth trillions.
Moon Express on Tuesday announced it was handed £16 million ($20billion) from wealthy donors to start carving up our planet’s satellite.
Moon Express is one of the five companies that will send a robot to the moon this year.
Naveen Jain, Moon Express’ billionaire co-founder and former Microsoft employee hopes to find water, Helium-3, gold, platinum and rare earth metals on the surface.
The company describes itself as a "privately funded commercial space company created to develop and mine the resources of the Moon and further space exploration."
It's reported to be backed by Trump donor Peter Thiel.
It is hoping to win its next bit of funding through the Google Lunar X competition.
Winners must be the first to send a robot to the moon, make it travel 500m across the surface and then beam its surroundings back to Earth in HD by the end of 2017.
Google said: "The first team that successfully completes this mission will be awarded the $20 million Grand Prize.
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"The second team to successfully complete the mission will be awarded $5 million.
"To win either of these prizes, teams must prove that 90 percent of their mission costs were funded by private sources.
"Teams now have until the end of 2017 to launch."
Doomed by a legal minefield, space mining billionaires are more likely to make money by raising it through funding and are more interested in doing something with their piles of cash, Mosteshar added.
"A number of individuals just want to do something with their money," he quipped.
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