[ExI] The House Just Passed a Bill About Space Mining

Adrian Tymes atymes at gmail.com
Mon May 25 18:37:42 UTC 2015


On Sun, May 24, 2015 at 11:37 PM, John Grigg <possiblepaths2050 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> "This is how we know commercial space exploration is serious. The
> opportunity here is so vast that businesses are demanding federal
> protections for huge, floating objects they haven't even surveyed
> <http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2015/05/22/the-house-just-passed-a-bill-about-space-mining-the-future-is-here/?tid=rssfeed#74944247>
>  yet."
>
>
>
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2015/05/22/the-house-just-passed-a-bill-about-space-mining-the-future-is-here/?tid=rssfeed
>

Problem is, there isn't really a "reading" of the Outer Space Treaty that
allows this.  Recognizing private claims is "national appropriation" by the
nation that recognizes them, unless all signatories recognize said claims -
but none other than the US are likely to do so; certainly, the majority
(who have no practical way to stake their own private claims) will not.
This is flat-out trumped by the OST.

That said, if it signals that the US will at least not enforce against
private claims, or if it applies to portions of "celestial bodies" (to use
the OST's language) that are returned to Earth (and thus stop being
celestial bodies; simultaneously, this is about the time they acquire
actual market value, until the day when people start buying stuff that is
in orbit - which is a long way away), that portion would be a good step
forward.
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