Safety Zones for Sustainability on the Moon: The Example of the Breaking Ground Trust

Abstract

Although safety zones are not a new concept in international law, their introduction in the context of outer space is fairly recent. First presented as a concept for space activities by the Hague Working Group in 2016, lunar safety zones were formally introduced to the international community through section 11 of the Artemis Accords in 2020. Their compliance to existing international space law and the implications of such zones on the Moon have been heavily debated. Part of this uncertainty lies in the imprecise definition and the lack of clarity regarding their implementation. This article surveys legal precedents for safety zones in other domains, and explores the challenges of those precedents, and open questions surrounding implementation on the Moon. The authors offer a novel legal basis for safety zones with a basis in natural resource management, and discuss the application and implementation of this approach to safety zones focused in particular on instrumenting accountability for sustainable lunar activities. Finally, the Breaking Ground Lunar Resources Trust is presented as a real world case study. Artemis Accords, the Moon, safety zones, sustainability, perpetual purpose trust