Who owns space? Looking at the US asteroid-mining act An event of cosmic proportions occurred on 18 November when the US congress passed the Space Act of 2015 into law. The legislation will give US space firms the rights to own and sell natural resources they mine from bodies in space, including asteroids. Although the act, passed with bipartisan support, still requires President …
It doesn't specify who gets to claim what or if you have to land on it to claim it.
I suppose I can't blame you entirely for getting that entirely wrong, because the original article didn't bother linking to the proposed act properly. Instead they link to a NASA page which contains an overview of the previous space acts.
For reference, here's the actual act we're talking about: https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/2262/text, straight from the horse's mouth.
And here's the relevant section which has got all your knickers in a twist:
“§ 51303. Asteroid resource and space resource rights“A United States citizen engaged in commercial recovery of an asteroid resource or a space resource under this chapter shall be entitled to any asteroid resource or space resource obtained, including to possess, own, transport, use, and sell the asteroid resource or space resource obtained in accordance with applicable law, including the international obligations of the United States.”.
Notice two key points: "...entitletd to any asteroid or space resource obtained..." and "... in accordance with applicable law, including the international obligations of the United States."
So 1) they have to obtain the resource before claiming ownership of it, and 2) this does not supersede any international law.
"So 1) they have to obtain the resource before claiming ownership of it, and 2) this does not supersede any international law."
In addition, I read it as meaning that they own the resources they return to Earth but there's no mention of anyone being able to claim ownership of a celestial body. I get the feeling this is a way to by-pass the current rules/laws which IIRC basically say that anything brought back from space belongs to the Government/Humanity because that was drafted before anyone thought that commercial enterprises could ever afford to go to space.
Good point.
I fail to understand the gratuitous hand wringing in the article. If we are going to commercialize space, then filthy lucre will be part of the deal. It would seem extremely unfair to me for a private entity to spend a fortune to wrest value from space, only to be told when the hardware is done well done. It belongs to "humanity", and by humanity I mean Not You.
Perhaps I spend too much time under the eyes and whips of Editors, but to me there's a difference between:
“A United States citizen engaged in commercial recovery of an asteroid resource or a space resource under this chapter shall be entitled to any asteroid resource or space resource obtained, including to possess, own, transport, use, and sell the asteroid resource or space resource obtained in accordance with applicable law, including the international obligations of the United States.”.
and
“A United States citizen engaged in commercial recovery of an asteroid resource or a space resource under this chapter shall be entitled to any asteroid resource or space resource obtained by that citizen, or an agent of that citizen, including to possess, own, transport, use, and sell the asteroid resource or space resource obtained in accordance with applicable law, including the international obligations of the United States.”.
Of course, I'm sure nobody would ever use such a literal translation of a legal statement to imply that because:
a) Someone else has gone out and mined it it is 'obtained'
and therefore
b) Because I am in fact 'engaged in commercial recovery of an asteroid resource or a space resource', even though that mostly means I have a very nice letterhead with the words 'Asteroid Mining' in, Under US law it's bloody mine (no pun intended) I tell you!
True, but I guess greed is going to be the only serious driver for getting people out in the solar system in serious numbers.
However, the US should bear in mind that all nations will play the same game, and it is quite possible that their companies will find, when they get to that prime piece of real-estate that they're after, a Chinese or Indian automatic processing facility already operational.
No matter what Congress thinks, International agreements will still be needed.
"Similarly, if we started contaminating celestial bodies with microbes from Earth, it could ruin our chances of ever finding alien life there."
Similarly, if we started contaminating Earth with microbes from celestial bodies, it could ruin our chances of ever surviving the alien life there.
There fixed that for you...
"It goes against a number of treaties and international customary law which already apply to the entire universe".
I don't know about that, really.
Maybe I've been watching/reading too much science fiction, but it seems to *me* that the only audacious thing going on is the author's assumption that any laws in existence today apply, in any meaningful sense of the word, to any part of the universe past Earth orbit... Akin to, say, a Pharaoh deeding the sun to his favourite son, etc.
This is similar to the moron who 'owns' the moon. Just because you're American actually means nothing to anyone else in the world (let alone the existing Intergalatic Federation of Asteroid Mining Consortium).
If I decide to mine an asteroid, I don't want anyone else muscling in so lasers on standby....
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> "Which is why we shouldn't necessarily let private companies do this."
Why not? So what if asteroid mining companies might shoot at each other? That kind of behavior is frowned upon by stockholders everywhere. After a couple of incidents the industry will get together and formulate rules to prevent such things, on pain of a gang-up attack on the violator.
The real danger (to the current power holders) is that those companies will grow, and so will the off-planet population. Sooner or later there will be new nations out there who have no stake in Earth, other than as a dwindling market share.
She's plotting to bomb this site from orbit because it's the only way to be sure.
Meanwhile, slimy mega-space corps Weyland-Yutani is planning on sending slave-wage/no healthcare/20 years contract terraforming colonists to the other side of Acheron because they need to revive a parasitic xenomorph that they have more info about than anyone can suspecta because reasons and the space government is ready to pay big taxpayer bucks for any weaponazible stuff that will come out that particular experiment.
"The Romans had this all correctly figured out in their legal maxim: “What concerns all must be decided upon by all.”"
It might be useful to remember that the Roman definition of 'all' was 'Roman citizen' - I don't remember ever reading that the Britains, Gauls etc. asked to join the empire.
Suppose, for the sake of argument, that life is discovered on one of the Galilean moons. Who then owns the resources of that moon?
The requirement not to contaminate outer space, is all very well, but does that include not killing extra-terrestrial life? Would that life have 'ownership' of the entire moon, or just the part it lives on/in? And what if the resources which sustain that extra-terrestrial life are exactly what the corporation wants to mine?
On a more mischievous note, does the new legislation apply to Guantanamo Bay? It is, after all outside the scope of the Constitution of the USA.
Your comment is funny in light of the fact that the USA is the only nation that has visited all of the worlds now. No one else even comes close to our achievements in space. Which is even more humorous considering we barely care about space. So we did all of that without even actually trying.
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It would just be history repeating itself; Make someone unimportant the new boss of the locals, make sure he understands he is boss only as long as he toes the line. Sign a treaty with him that you have no intention of keeping to and finally give him blankets infected with smallpox, or an ET equivalent.
East India company made money that way as did the US government.
@ Chris G
I thought is was Mr Amherst (after whom Amherst College is named), a Brit (probably English too lazy to look him up), who suggested or used smallpox infested blankets to kill off those inconveniently stubborn aboriginal Americans. Hence the reason there has been a bit of a 'to do recently' about his image at Amherst College, I believe.
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Mining is not that bad (if you can get nuclear power into orbit). If you do not have a BIG power source it becomes pointless.
The difficulty is the delivery of the mined product. There is very little difference between the tech needed to hit an opponent with a E.L.E and the tech to launch a refined slab of metal foam to a suitable sea landing area so it can be towed and smelted. In fact they are pretty much the same.
No Earth government will tolerate having the biggest sling every invented in somebody's else hands.
Parachutes from 100km up I suppose, but that's not very accurate.
Read Volume 2 of NIght's Dawn, "The Neutronium Alchemist". It is the only place I have seen so far which describes a technically achievable and economically feasible method to ship metal and other crude commodities from orbit to earth. It also describes what else can you use it for.
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