Canada wants to hunt criminals on the moon in the future

For Canada, the moon is no longer a legal vacuum (icon image). Image: dpa

An amendment to Canada’s penal code will allow the country to prosecute crimes on the moon in the future. The backdrop is a lunar mission planned for 2024 with an astronaut from Canada.

Canada wants to hunt criminals on the moon in the future. Canada’s Parliament on Thursday approved an amendment to the Penal Code allowing prosecution for crimes committed on the celestial body.

Thus, Canadian and foreign astronauts can be prosecuted if they commit acts on Canadian-backed missions to a proposed lunar space station or on the lunar surface that would be punishable under Canadian law.

Until now, Canadian criminal law has already applied to acts committed by Canadian astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) in orbit. The government has now expanded this regulation in view of a lunar mission planned for 2024 and manned by a Canadian astronaut.

Another space station is scheduled to orbit the moon in 2026. The project is being led by the US space agency Nasa; Canada, Japan and the European Space Agency (ESA) are involved.