Page 40 - 200710 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - October 2007

40 Lunar Parking Permits? 40 Lunar Parking Permits? Lunar Parking Permits: Lunar Parking Permits: Do you need special Do you need special permission to land permission to land something on the something on the moon? moon? By Morgan Smith By Morgan Smith its activities won't threaten foreign policy or did not have an opinion on the existence of Google recently announced its national security interests. Additionally, a lunar elves. sponsorship of the Lunar X Prize, which awards launch team in the United States would have to More admitted to believing in ghosts. $20 million to the first private firm to land a get permission from the Federal Only seven percent said their existence was robotic rover on the moon by the end of 2012. Communications Commission to use impossible, 16 percent unlikely, 41 percent Will these companies need special permission government communications frequencies while possible, 18 percent likely and 13 percent to put something on the moon? in orbit. definite. Four percent had no opinion on the Not exactly. You don't need anyone to The few other countries with emerging existence of ghosts. sign off on a lunar landing, but you do need a commercial space sectors, like Brazil, Israel, Gunnell was surprised by the results permit to launch anything into space from and Russia, require permission from a because the Icelandic society has changed Earth. Governments oversee private space governmental equivalent of the FAA, and the considerably since 1974 when Haraldsson activity through the framework provided by the U.N. Office for Outer Space Affairs maintains a revealed that more Icelanders believed in Outer Space Treaty of 1967, which has been database of international space regulations. In supernatural phenomena than other nations. signed by 91 nations, including all the major the case of a multinational launch, a team would “Many factors could have affected these space-faring countries. The treaty restricts the have to gain authorization from all of the numbers,” Gunnell said. “A growing belief in exploration of outer space to peaceful purposes countries involved. haunting can be traced back to Hollywood and says it should be performed for the benefit By controlling what and who launches movies. The city and its houses are also growing of all nations. Article VI specifically addresses into space, a government can attempt to older and the countryside is becoming more nongovernmental entities in space; it declares regulate what happens there. But once you're mysterious.” nations should "require authorization" and cleared to launch, you don't need special The study was undertaken in 2006 and "continuing supervision" of citizens' actions, permission to land on the moon. There aren't 2007 by the University of Iceland’s Faculty of but it does not stipulate how this might be any specific guidelines beyond what's in the Social Sciences and supported by the accomplished. 1967 treaty as to what happens on the lunar university’s Research Fund. About 1,000 people In the United States, various surface. [] participated in the questionnaires. government agencies follow private activities in The results have not been fully assessed outer space, but the bulk of the oversight comes Iceland Still Believes in through the Federal Aviation Administration's Iceland Still Believes in yet and interviews with some of the participants Office of Space Transportation. Any American Elves and Ghosts are scheduled in the near future. The final Elves and Ghosts results of the study will be introduced in citizen who wants to launch a rocket or other December. [] kind of spacecraft into orbit must obtain authorization from the FAA, as would any foreigner who launches within U.S. territory. According to a recent study on The FAA regulates the commercial sector's superstition in Iceland supervised by Terry space activities by requiring parties to obtain Gunnell, associate folklore professor at the launch and re-entry licenses. The office spends University of Iceland, a significant portion of up to six months vetting launch plans for participants would not rule out the existence of potential harm to the public that could occur if elves and ghosts. something went awry—like falling debris or the The results of the study were similar to formation of a toxic cloud from an explosion. those of a study conducted in 1974 by Professor During the review of an application, the FAA Erlendur Haraldsson, Fréttabladid reports. also investigates a plan's compliance with the “Icelanders seem much more open to National Environmental Policy Act, with phenomena like dreaming the future, deciding factors being whether the pollution forebodings, ghosts and elves than other from the launch could harm a historic site or the nations,” Gunnell said. natural environment, or if noise from the launch Only 13 percent of participants in the could be detrimental to surrounding plant and study said it is impossible that elves exist, 19 animal life. To get a launch license, a company percent found it unlikely, 37 percent said elves must prove that it could take financial possibly exist, 17 percent found their existence responsibility if anything went wrong, and that likely and eight percent definite. Five percent