[ExI] Space Mining Should Be a Global Project—But It’s Not Starting Off That Way

[John Grigg]

"Exploiting the resources of outer space might be key to the future
expansion of the human species. But researchers argue that the US is trying
to skew the game in its favor, with potentially disastrous consequences.

The enormous cost of lifting material into space
<https://singularityhub.com/tag/space/> means that any serious effort to
colonize the solar system will require us to rely on resources beyond our
atmosphere. Water will be the new gold thanks to its crucial role in
sustaining life, as well as the fact it can be split into hydrogen fuel and
oxygen for breathing.

Regolith found on the surface of rocky bodies like the
<https://singularityhub.com/2020/04/08/nasas-plan-to-build-a-base-camp-on-the-moon-sounds-like-sci-fi-but-its-real/>
m
<https://singularityhub.com/2020/04/08/nasas-plan-to-build-a-base-camp-on-the-moon-sounds-like-sci-fi-but-its-real/>
oon
<https://singularityhub.com/2020/04/08/nasas-plan-to-build-a-base-camp-on-the-moon-sounds-like-sci-fi-but-its-real/>
and Mars will be a crucial building material, while some companies think it
will eventually be profitable to extract precious metals and rare earth
elements from asteroids and return them to Earth. But so far, there’s
little in the way of regulation designed to govern how these activities
should be managed.

Now two Canadian researchers argue in a paper in *Science*
<https://science.sciencemag.org/content/370/6513/174> that recent policy
moves by the US are part of a concerted effort to refocus international
space cooperation towards short-term commercial interests, which could
precipitate a “race to the bottom” that sabotages efforts to safely manage
the development of space.

Aaron Boley and Michael Byers at the University of British Columbia trace
back the start of this push to the 2015 Commercial Space Launch
Competitiveness Act
<https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/2262/text>, which
gave US citizens and companies the right to own and sell space resources
under US law. In April this year, President Trump doubled down with an
executive order affirming the right to commercial space mining and
explicitly rejecting the idea that space is a “global commons,” flying in
the face of established international norms."

https://singularityhub.com/2020/10/12/the-us-is-trying-to-hijack-space-mining-and-there-could-be-disastrous-consequences/
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