scholarly journals Understanding the Promises and Pitfalls of Outer Space Mining and the Need for an International Regulatory Body to Govern the Extraction of Space-Based Resources

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mitchell Powell
Keyword(s):  
Space Exploration ◽  
Outer Space ◽  
Precious Metals ◽  
First Century ◽  
Regulatory Body ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Private Industry ◽  
National Space ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Cold War

Space exploration is about to undergo a monumental change and the global legal and regulatory infrastructure is massively unprepared. When the bulk of international space law was written, the Cold War was raging, and man had not even landed on the Moon yet. Now, thanks to advances in technology, a seismic shift has occurred which will see private industry leading the future of space exploration with national space agencies as partners, rather than the other way around as has been the status quo for decades. One of the most lucrative possibilities luring private firms to space is the opportunity to extract resources from a celestial body such as an asteroid, another planet, or the Moon. It is estimated that trillions of dollars’ worth of precious metals, liquids, and gasses exist on these bodies. A galactic resource race will soon be underway, and space-faring nations must take the lead to ensure that legal, economic, and environmental issues posed by such space exploration is hammered out before it is too late. I assert that if left to their own devices, firms will fail to follow the same standard of their fore-father government space agencies. As a result, we need an international agreement or body for the twenty-first century to govern and regulate the extraction of resources from outer space led by the great space hegemons.

scholarly journals Sapnis par kosmosa bagātībām – vai kosmosa resursu ieguve ir likumīga?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lūcija Strauta ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United Arab Emirates ◽  
Outer Space ◽  
The United States ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Commercial Exploitation ◽  
International Space ◽  
National Space ◽  
Space Law ◽  
Celestial Bodies

The paper assesses whether the national legal framework of the United States, Luxembourg and the United Arab Emirates, which stipulates that space resources can be privately owned, and legalizes the acquisition of space resources for commercial purposes, complies with international space law. The article analyses the scope of space use delineated by the 1967 Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies and 1979 Agreement Governing the Activities of States on the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, as well as the subsequent national practices after the entry into force of these agreements, national space law, national policies and public statements. The aim of the analysis is to determine whether international space law contains a prohibition of the extraction and commercial exploitation of space resources. The study evaluates national comprehensions of the space law content with regard to the freedom to use space. It yields a conclusion that there is no absolute ban on the commercial exploitation of space resources under international space law.

scholarly journals Technological Determinism Goes Aloft: Notes on the Human – Machine Issue in Outer Space Exploration

2020 ◽  
pp. 16-25
Author(s):  
Lika Rodin
Keyword(s):  
Space Exploration ◽  
Outer Space ◽  
The Self ◽  
Technological Determinism ◽  
Self And Other ◽  
National Space ◽  
History Of ◽  
Manned Space ◽  
The Individual

The future of space exploration is unimaginable without broadening the role of technology. Already, the necessity of manned space expeditions is becoming increasingly problematized. This study looks at the role of technology and human – machine relationships unfolding within national space programs through the lens of the 'soft' version of technological determinism suggested by Albert Borgmann. This theoretical tradition recognizes, without neglecting human agency, the shaping effect of technology on human organization, prosperity and actions as well as on individuals' relationships with the self and other. The commodification of technology – economic and ethical – is viewed to be the effects of technological expansion. Ethical commodification is characterized by disattachment of the individual from the natural surrounding and from the self. In the field of space exploration, ethical commodification is associated with the process of automation that developed differently in distinctive national contexts. Thus, if the history of American spaceflight is characterized by the initial struggle against automation, seen to be a means of disempowering astronauts as a professional group, the Russian space program favoured automation from the very beginning. In both contexts, however, automation eventually established itself and continues to shape contemporary perceptions on spaceflight. The accumulated experiences of man-machine interactions are useful for understanding ethical commodification as a social phenomenon. Drawing on the autobiographical narratives of Soviet / Russian cosmonauts, I specify the ways in which ethical commodification of hardware and software manifested itself in spaceflight and how it could be diverted. In conclusion, a perspective that resists alienation is suggested for the enterprise of space exploration at large.

Human–Robotic Cooperative Space Exploration

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne-Sophie Martin
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Artificial Satellite ◽  
Space Exploration ◽  
Outer Space ◽  
Space Vehicle ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
The Moon ◽  
International Space ◽  
Free Exploration ◽  
Celestial Bodies

Humans have always looked up at the stars and dreamed about outer space as the final frontier. The launch of the first artificial satellite—Sputnik—in 1957 by the Soviet Union and the first man on the Moon in 1969 represent significant missions in space exploration history. In 1972, Apollo 17 marked the last human program on the lunar surface. Nevertheless, several robotic spacecrafts have traveled to the Moon, such as the Soviet Luna 24 in 1976, and China’s Chang’e 4 in 2019, which was the first time a space vehicle touched down on the Moon’s far side. The international space community is currently assessing a return to the Moon in 2024 and even beyond, in the coming decades, toward the Red Planet, Mars. Robots and rovers (for example Curiosity, Philae, Rosetta, and Perseverance) will continue to play a major role in space exploration by paving the way for future long-duration missions on celestial bodies. It is still impossible to land humans on Mars or on other celestial bodies because there are significant challenges to overcome from technological and physiological perspectives. Therefore, the support of machines and artificial intelligence is essential for developing future deep space programs as well as to reach a sustainable space exploration. One can imagine a future scenario where robots and humans collaborate on the Moon’s surface or on celestial bodies to undertake scientific research, to extract and to analyze space resources for a possible in situ utilization, as well as to build sites for human habitation and work. The principles of free exploration and cooperation are core elements in the international space legal framework as mentioned in Article I of the 1967 Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, Including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies. In this context of new ‘robots–humans’ cooperation, it is also necessary to consider the provisions of the 1972 Convention on the International Liability for Damage Caused by Space Objects, the 1975 Convention on Registration of Objects Launched into Outer Space, the 1968 Agreement of the Rescue of Astronauts, the Return of Astronauts and the Return of Objects Launched into Outer Space, and the 1979 Agreement Governing the Activities of States on the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, as well as some recent international agreements signed for future Moon missions given their significant importance for space exploration.

The American spaceport and the power of cultural imaginaries

2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 317-337 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey S. Nesbit
Keyword(s):  
Space Exploration ◽  
First Century ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Central Florida ◽  
Geographic Space ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Early Twenty ◽  
New Frontier ◽  
Constructed Environment

Cape Canaveral, the site of the American space programme launch complex located on the coast of Central Florida, has both a deep history in technological innovation and has been the place for architecturally imagining the new frontier of civilization. The range and trajectory of this new extraterrestrial frontier today resides within this once remote wilderness at the ends of architecture – both at the ends of a disciplinary formation and the physical site that enables the departure from Earth. Cultural imaginaries, collective forms created by culture, such as images relating to the assumed efficiencies of space exploration, construct a political desire for departing the Earth, yet rely heavily on architectural and infrastructural devices that are soon left abandoned on our terrestrial surface. This article moves from the geographic space of the late nineteenth century to the celebrated technological objects of NASA’s Apollo 11 programme for reaching the moon. By tracking the range, escape and return of the Apollo programmes’ constructed environment, the American spaceport reveals an invisible wilderness as an architectural aesthetic formed out of the cultural imagination in the early twenty-first century.

scholarly journals Property Rights in Space

2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-146
Author(s):  
David Sarnacki
Keyword(s):  
Property Rights ◽  
Deep Sea ◽  
Conflicts Of Interest ◽  
Outer Space ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Modern View ◽  
The Status ◽  
History Of ◽  
Outer Space Treaty

This Note will discuss why maintaining the status quo, while waiting for the technology to mature, will encourage development and strengthen the industry before being smothered by laws and regulations promulgated by parties who may have conflicts of interest. This Note will first explain why scientists are attempting to mine asteroids. It will then examine the rules that apply, including the two main space treaties (the Outer Space Treaty and the Moon Treaty), the modern view of the court, and the history of deep-sea mining. Finally, this Note will apply the treaties to modern plans being developed to harvest an asteroid.

Extended Managerial Implications

2018 ◽  
pp. 254-282 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Thomas Riley
Keyword(s):  
Space Exploration ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
First Century ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Critical Elements ◽  
Settlement Site ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Habitat Design ◽  
Human Space Exploration

In these challenging times, people need a positive vision of the future that human space exploration best provides. The way Apollo to the Moon was run in the 1960s, with a huge government program, simply cannot happen today. Fortunately, all the elements needed to build a twenty-first century grassroots human space program are now available. This chapter provides one possible approach developed by the Big Moon Dig, called MOVE, and discusses its critical elements such as management of a large out-of-box project, finding a lunar settlement site, critical habitat design, and applying the lessons learned to other problems on Earth.

Epilogue: Final frontiers?

2015 ◽  
pp. 114-118
Author(s):  
Stewart A. Weaver
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Space Exploration ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Human Identity ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Historical Periods

‘Epilogue: Final frontiers?’ considers undersea and space exploration. Jacques-Yves Cousteau claimed the oceans were the last frontier of our planet. The Cold War race to the moon took exploration into space. Are these the final frontiers? For all the different forms it takes in different historical periods, for all the worthy and unworthy motives that lie behind it, exploration—travel for the sake of discovery and adventure—seems to be a human compulsion, a human obsession even; it is a defining element of a distinctly human identity, and it will never rest at any frontier, whether terrestrial or extraterrestrial.

Transnational Space Law

2021 ◽  
pp. 390-418
Author(s):  
Kevin J. Madders
Keyword(s):  
Outer Space ◽  
Critical Mass ◽  
National Space ◽  
The Status ◽  
Outer Space Treaty ◽  
Science Community ◽  
Ancient Times ◽  
New Space ◽  
Transnational Space ◽  
Space Activities

This chapter applies the transnational law approach to the space field. It introduces the space-Earth relationship in society and law from ancient times and how this altered with revolutions in thought, science, and technology. It then describes how German wartime and postwar strategic developments culminated in the turning point Sputnik represented for geopolitics, science, and space norms formation. A transnational space science community arose, while a process of superpower Cold War diplomacy at the United Nations and outside it arrived at understandings amplified in the 1967 Outer Space Treaty. This and the other UN space treaties, along with subsequent UN consensus principles, are reviewed, with discussion also of why the 1979 Moon Agreement failed to gain critical mass. The chapter identifies transnational regimes, forms of space cooperation, the centrality of space policy, and the status of national space lawmaking. Space debris and congestion as well as the potential for unilateralism are among current challenges as the “New Space” era opens. Such challenges engage us all, space activities being the province of all humankind.

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