posted 02-03-2015 07:33 AM               

The Federal Aviation Administration, in a previously undisclosed late-December letter to Bigelow Aerospace, said the agency intends to "leverage the FAA's existing launch licensing authority to encourage private sector investments in space systems by ensuring that commercial activities can be conducted on a non-interference basis."

In other words, experts said, Bigelow could set up one of its proposed inflatable habitats on the moon, and expect to have exclusive rights to that territory — as well as related areas that might be tapped for mining, exploration and other activities...

"We didn't give (Bigelow Aerospace) a license to land on the moon. We're talking about a payload review that would potentially be part of a future launch license request. But it served a purpose of documenting a serious proposal for a U.S. company to engage in this activity that has high-level policy implications," said the FAA letter's author, George Nield, associate administrator for the FAA's Office of Commercial Transportation.

"We recognize the private sector's need to protect its assets and personnel on the moon or on other celestial bodies," the FAA wrote in the December letter to Bigelow Aerospace. The company, based in Nevada, is developing the inflatable space habitats. Bigelow requested the policy statement from the FAA, which oversees commercial space transportation in the U.S.

The letter was coordinated with U.S. departments of State, Defense, Commerce, as well as NASA and other agencies involved in space operations.

posted 02-03-2015 08:45 AM               

What worries me even more is a vague definition "as well as related areas ... and other activities." If this is really the exact wording then the US national body gives the license for unlimited areas on the Moon to a private company(ies) for any activities, which I find to be very strange and dangerous.

posted 02-03-2015 09:59 AM               

If, for example, Bigelow wants to invest in setting up shop on the lunar surface, the FAA would oversee that other U.S. companies do not interfere by landing their own craft in the vicinity of Bigelow's operations.