Perhaps a more comparable regime is the seabed regime, which takes into account property rights over mining. The use and ownership of deep seabed resources is structured exclusively around the International Seabed Authority (ISA), which is responsible for the organization, conduct and control of all seabed activities. [lix] States Parties must not only obtain sanctions from the ISA before they begin to exploit the resources, but the tax benefits of seabed extraction must also be shared among all. [lx] Clearly, even UNCLOS defends state ownership and equitable distribution through individual ownership and self-centered profits. [lxi] By allowing private property, the United States and Luxembourg are again violating the same law they invoke. The fundamental principle of the “province of all mankind” is also defeated. In order to take advantage of even limited benefits as in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the derivation must therefore be at least the same. This argument is also ineffective. The only other country to have signed a similar law on asteroid mining is Luxembourg.

The easiest resource to target is water, says John Lewis, chief scientist at Deep Space Industries. The survival fluid can be electrically converted into hydrogen and oxygen for fuel. Water makes up to 10% of the mass of some asteroids, trapped in minerals that resemble the glittering mica of many terrestrial rocks – but it can be baked in a solar oven with other volatile substances such as nitrogen or sulfur compounds. Modified land-based mining techniques could also extract iron from asteroids. Space mining can be essential for manned exploration missions to Mars. Given the distance and relatively high gravity of Mars (twice that of the Moon), the extraction and export of minerals to Earth seems highly unlikely. Rather, most resource extraction on Mars will focus on providing materials to power exploration missions, refueling spacecraft, and colonization. To extract something, however, companies must first collect raw materials from an asteroid — a process that some countries, including Russia, Brazil and Belgium, say goes against the treaty.

The OST does not specifically mention mining, but one of its most important provisions is the prohibition of “national appropriation” of celestial bodies. That may be true for resource extraction, but the pact “doesn`t give you a lot of advice” on that front, says Frans von der Dunk, a professor of space law at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. June 2018 marked the anniversary of the first United Nations Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, held in Vienna in 1968. It also marked the 51st anniversary of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty (OST). Today, what was once fodder for cosmological science fiction has become a reality, thanks to innovations in space that have taken place over the past half-century. Unlike lunar missions of the past, contemporary explorations are primarily led by private sector entities striving to harness the potential of extracting resources in space. How plausible is extraterrestrial mining – is it a long-term proposition or rather a fantasy? And what are the challenges facing space mine workers? If a group is already on an asteroid and exploiting it, can a second party come and exploit it as well? Who will decide whether there will be “interference” if, at least in the United States, no federal agency has been delegated by law to that jurisdiction? Without further legislation, these decisions must be made by the U.S. State Department, which is ill-equipped to effectively select winners and losers from space mining. [vi] Guerric de Crombrugghe (Business Development Manager at SABCA), “Asteroid mining as a necessary answer to mineral knappheit”, LinkedIn, January 11, 2018. A State Party that has reason to believe that an activity or experiment planned by another State Party in outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, would cause potentially detrimental interference with the peaceful exploration and use of outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, may request consultations on such activity or experiment. [xxx] Robert Mackenzie, “Why Luxembourg, of all place, is a global leader in asteroid mining,” Motherboard Vice, December 26, 2016. [xii] Sarah Cruddas, “Could the unspeakable riches of asteroids and other planets be the key to exploring the vast universe?”, BBC, 5 January 2016, www.bbc.com/future/story/20160103-the-truth-about-asteroid-mining [xxxvi] “H.R.2262 – 114th Congress (2015-2016): U.S.

Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act”, www.congress.gov. 25 November 2015. The United States has also issued a U.S. Space Technology Act for Deep-Space Resource Exploration, or the Asteroid Act, which would “facilitate the commercial exploration and exploitation of asteroid resources to meet national needs; remove government barriers to the development of economically viable, safe and stable industries for the exploration and exploitation of asteroid resources in outer space, in a manner consistent with the United States` existing international obligations; to promote U.S. law. to explore and utilize asteroid resources in outer space in accordance with these obligations without harmful interference and to transfer or sell such resources; and to develop the framework conditions necessary to meet the United States` international obligations.” See “H.R.5063 – ASTEROIDS Act,” www.congress.gov, 15 July 2014; Andrew Zaleski, op. cit. Cit. note 3; Mariella Moon, “Luxembourg`s law on asteroid exploitation enters into force on 1 August”, www.engadget.com, 30 July 2017.