Exploitation Of Space Resources Research Articles

The Impact of Epistemic Communities on the Development of Future International Legal Regulation of Lunar Activities

Every human culture has reflected the Moon’s influence in its cosmology, spirituality, science, creative and social life. For these reasons, the exploration and use of the Moon should be done thoughtfully and carefully, and possible resource extraction should not harm the Earth's only satellite and its environment as a whole. The adoption by some States of national legislation affecting the commercial exploitation of space resources, as well as the resumption of lunar programs by several leading spacefaring nations at a time, prompt the need for legal regulation in this area. However, to develop a detailed international legal regime for lunar exploration, the efforts of the States parties to the UN COPUOS alone are not sufficient since in practice other actors in international relations, including the so-called epistemic communities representing various types of non-governmental organizations, are also active participants in space activities. Such communities offer their own vision of the international legal regulation of relations arising in the framework of the exploration and use of the Moon basing on the norms of international space law and involving active participation of non-governmental legal entities, considering the interests of present and future generations, as well as of emerging space nations. The study presents a comprehensive analysis of the influence of epistemic communities on the development of the future international legal regime for lunar exploration. The authors consistently review the activities of non-governmental organizations within the UN COPUOS since its formation. Special attention is paid to the contribution of such communities to the progressive development of international space law and its codification, including the legal nature of the documents developed by such communities. The study concludes with a comprehensive international legal assessment of the activities of the epistemic communities.

Extra‐terrestrial resources: A potential solution for securing the supply of rare metals for the coming decades?

The forthcoming energy transition driven by the need to reduce CO2 emissions requires large amounts of critical elements to construct renewable energy devices such as car batteries, wind turbines and solar panels. For many elements such as Li, Co, REEs and Ti, the production sources are located in countries with poor social and environmental standards, prone to political destabilization such as military conflicts, or vulnerable to strained relationships with consumer countries. Lately, the volatile geopolitical context has further demonstrated the high dependency of Europe and other developed countries in terms of raw material supply. In addition, there is a debate about the Earth's potential to sustain the transition toward a green society by using conventional resources from mining of terrestrial rocks. As nature conservation and climate mitigation are now priorities for the majority of governments, and since conventional mining on Earth suffers from a growing social resistance, humankind may need to look toward new frontier resources for supplying the mineral needs of the coming decades. Here, we explore the use of extra‐terrestrial resources as a potential source to feed the future supply of critical metals. Extra‐terrestrial mining may be an opportunity for wealth creation and an option for critical metal resource supply when mining on Earth becomes increasingly untenable. We conclude that the potential impacts of extraction and exploitation of space resources, both good and bad, could be societally profound.

Competitive observance by the Russian Federation and the USA of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty

Introduction. Thе Russian Federation and the USA, being parties to the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, in their national legal acts refer to this source. Each of these states recognizes that the 1967 Outer Space regime is to be perfected, while having different legal outer space policy. The USA is a leader of the military outer space infrastructure and of creation national outer space legislation and separate international agreements (“The Artemis Accords”), thus imposing its own track to develop the 1967 Treaty.Materials and methods. This research addresses relevant international documents on international space law as well as acts of national legislation pertaining to the topic. Research results. In modern political conditions the quality of a state defense and its economic development is linked to the efficiency of the outer space infrastructure, including communication and reconnaissance satellites. While the U.S. intends to achieve military supremacy in the outer space, the 1967 Treaty seems to be a barrier to such intention although the U.S. provides its own interpretation of the Treaty. Another significant area of competition between Russia and USA in the outer space legal policy is the observance of the natural resources treaty provisions. According to the USA, a state is entitled unilaterally exploit the space resources, and its persons are entitled to commercial use of such resources based on national law. This position of the United States resulted in creation of its national legislation opportunities for natural resources activities in outer space. The Russian Federation continues to defend multilateral approach to the exploitation of space resources and to call upon strictly observance of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty. There are also competitive legal positions of the USA and Russia relating to the notion of “common province of mankind” provided by the 1967 Treaty.The main results. In this context, the paper after providing prolegomena to the competitive principle in international law, suggests some theoretical ideas for perfecting of the legal position of the Russian Federation as a response to the modern outer space legal policy of the USA.Discussion and conclusions. In the legal literature on this issue different views are assessed – from a radical rejection of the US model of behavior and continuation of efforts to strengthen the 1967 Treaty regime, to proposals to adopt a new national Russian legislation providing rights of persons to exploit the natural resources of celestial bodies, thus provid-ing incentives for private investors. This track leads to more competition with the USA, observing at the same time the 1967 Treaty as the “corpus juris specialis”.

Strive for equitable use of space minerals resources

The global world has been paying great attention to the issue of space resources. To measure global equity, according to the dominant criteria, this paper selects resources, economic, opportunity, and policy indicators by using the entropy weight method to calculate the information entropy and weight of each indicator, to measure the degree of equity. In the future exploitation of space resources, in terms of financing and returns, this paper uses the global equity model, and to calculate the maximum mining returns, this paper uses linear programming. The results show that the maximum benefit is $20.01 million per ton.

Social work in space: Expanding policy and practice into the cosmos

AbstractAs private interests expand in space, what is the significance, if any, to social work? To answer this question, I present several implications of contemporary human activities in space and assess their relevance to environmental and ecological justice. Specifically, I evaluate the connection between the profession and the commercialization and exploitation of space resources, human‐generated cosmic “trash,” and terrestrial challenges. I conclude that social work must “look to the stars” and help humanity navigate competing interests in a delicate space future. Nearly a quarter century ago, ecological consequences of human activity prompted social work to incorporate the natural environment into practice. In preparation for the realization of modern extraterrestrial objectives, I propose that social work expand its conceptualization of the natural environment from ecosphere to cosmos. In this uncharted context, I propose future directions and offer questions to which leaders, scholars, and practitioners might begin seeking answers.

Commercial Lunar Ice Mining: Is There a Role for Royalties?

This paper explores the impacts of a potential royalty mechanism by considering the effects of different royalty and tax rates on the economics of a hypothetical commercial lunar ice mining project. The study also examines the conceivable benefits that could be generated from a royalty regime from a global perspective and considers the possible impacts of royalties on operational decision making in a commercial lunar ice mining context. There has been substantial debate since the signing of the Outer Space Treaty in 1967 regarding how to ensure the international community benefits from the commercial exploitation of space resources, should these activities eventuate. This includes the recent initiative by the Legal Subcommittee of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space to establish a Working Group to explore potential models for a legal framework to govern space resource activities. No formal proposal to include a royalty mechanism has yet been made; however, it is apparent that part of the mandate of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space Legal Subcommittee could be to explore the issue of benefit sharing, and it is possible that a royalty mechanism or something similar could ultimately be proposed. After considering the impact of royalties on a hypothetical lunar ice mining project, this paper finds that royalties, in particular ad valorem royalties, could have a meaningful impact on the economics and operational parameters of a commercial lunar ice mining project, in turn potentially impacting the ability to raise the funding required to develop such projects. The study also finds that under plausible scenarios, the benefits generated on a per capita basis would be negligible, even assuming significant industry growth rates over 50 years. The study, therefore, concludes that the rationale for imposing a royalty mechanism on space resource activities for the purposes of benefit sharing through direct monetary distribution to recipients would need to be carefully examined should such a royalty mechanism ever be proposed.

The helium bubble: Prospects for 3He-fuelled nuclear fusion

When it comes to energy, nuclear fusion is often referred to as the holy grail as it would provide a source of abundant energy with no risk of meltdown, plentiful resources, and no greenhouse gas emissions. The main candidate fuel for future reactors is a mixture of deuterium (D) and tritium (T), which fuse to form energetic neutrons and helium. As neutrons can damage materials and limit their lifetime in the extreme environment of a fusion reactor, other potential fuels have been proposed that would strongly reduce or eliminate neutron formation. Among them, helium-3 (3He), one of the isotopes of helium, is often mentioned,1Mazzucato E. A First Generation Fusion Reactor Using the D-3He Cycle.Fus. Sci. Technol. 2021; 77: 173-179Crossref Scopus (2) Google Scholar motivated by the discovery that the moon contains significant amounts of this species, although it is virtually non-existent on Earth. As such, helium-3 is a reason often mentioned to go back to the moon and exploit its resources. Unfortunately, in many aspects, 3He fusion is much harder to achieve.2Stott P.E. The feasibility of using D– 3 He and D–D fusion fuels.Plasma Phys. Contr. Fusion. 2005; 47: 1305Crossref Scopus (29) Google Scholar We show that this technology, if demonstrated, is most likely to only emerge as a second or third generation of fusion power plants and given the current schedule for fusion demonstration and deployment, is unlikely to appear this century. Nuclear fusion requires bringing atoms sufficiently close together for the strong nuclear force to act and allow the heavier particle to form. However, since nuclei are positively charged there is a strong repulsive force, due to the Coulomb interaction, between the nuclei. Counteracting this repulsion requires very high temperatures of the order of hundreds of millions degrees kelvins. Several fusion reactions can in theory be considered. They need to be exothermic, involve low atomic number elements (as the electrostatic repulsion increases with the number of protons), involve two reactants, and conserve protons and neutrons. The list of the most interesting reactions is given below:D+T→He4+n+17.6MeV(1)D+D→H+T+4.03MeV(2a)50%D+D→n+He3+3.27MeV(2b)50%D+He3→H+He4+18.35MeV(3) Most reactions involve isotopes of hydrogen (H). One can distinguish two classes of reactions depending on whether they lead to neutron formation or not. The latter will be referred to as aneutronic fusion. Figure 1 shows the reaction rates for the five selected reactions as a function of the ion temperature. By far, the easiest reaction to achieve is (1) and involves D and T. Most (if not all) fusion research focuses on the D-T scheme. D is naturally present in water with a natural abundance of 1 over 6,500. Seawater provides a plentiful source of fuel. T is radioactive and has a half-life of 12.3 years (decaying in 3He). A very small quantity (0.2 kg/year) is produced through interaction between cosmic radiations and nitrogen-14. The natural T inventory on Earth is estimated at about 3.5 kg. Most of the tritium is produced in nuclear reactors using heavy water as a moderator, such as the CANDU reactors in Canada. The estimated world T inventory is about 30 kg while a 500 MW (thermal power) fusion reactor will burn about 28 kg of T per year (assuming operation at full capacity).3Kovari M. Coleman M. Cristescu I. Smith R. Tritium resources available for fusion reactors.Nucl. Fusion. 2018; 58: 026010Crossref Scopus (39) Google Scholar To solve the issue of the T scarcity, it is envisaged to produce it using lithium through the following reaction:4Rubel M. Fusion Neutrons : Tritium Breeding and Impact on Wall Materials and Components of Diagnostic Systems.J. Fusion Energy. 2019; 38: 315-329Crossref Scopus (21) Google ScholarLi6+n→He+T+4.78MeV The plasma will be surrounded by a tritium breeding blanket which will contain beryllium (for neutron multiplication) and lithium for T production. The produced T will then be extracted and used to fuel the reactor. A reactor will need to have a breeding ratio of 1.05,5Doerner R.P. Tynan G.R. Schmid K. Implications of PMI and wall material choice on fusion reactor tritium self-sufficiency.Nucleic Mater. Energy. 2019; 18: 56-61Crossref Scopus (18) Google Scholar i.e., produce 5% more T than it consumes, in order to be self-sufficient and provide T for future reactors. The concept of T breeding has not been demonstrated at scale, and ITER will test a number of concepts during its operations. It represents a significant technical complexity. The currently accessible resources of lithium could provide at least a few thousand years of fusion power, at today’s level of consumption,6Nicholas T.E.G. Davis T.P. Federici F. Leland J. Patel B.S. Vincent C. Ward S.H. Re-examining the role of nuclear fusion in a renewables-based energy mix.Energy Policy. 2021; 149: 112043Crossref Scopus (12) Google Scholar a number which also depends on the needs for other usages (batteries for example). Recovery from seawater would increase the known resources by several orders of magnitude but the environmental and energy costs of such extraction need to be studied in more details. Another challenge is the creation of a very energetic neutron (14.1 MeV) which will continuously bombard the material structures surrounding the plasma and can produce gaseous species (hydrogen and helium) in materials causing embrittlement and generation of transmutation products.7Knaster J. Moeslang A. Muroga T. Materials research for fusion.Nat. Phys. 2016; 12: 424-434Crossref Google Scholar The use of 3He as a fuel for fusion has long been considered as an alternative to the D-T scheme.8Post R.F. Nuclear fusion fuels.Proceedings of the BNES Fusion Reactor Conference. 1969; : 88Google Scholar 3He is produced on Earth from three processes: cosmic rays, beta decay of tritium, and lithium spallation. 3He leaks from the Earth mantle but at a rate of hardly a few kg per year. The natural abundance of 3He is about 300 atomic parts per million compared to 4He. The US currently possesses around 25 kg of 3He through its strategic reserve. The production through radioactive decay of tritium, both from military and civilian sources, amounts to an annual production of about 18 kg/year. To circumvent the resource issue, the idea has been repeatedly proposed to make use of the lunar resources. Having no magnetosphere, the moon surface is bombarded by the solar winds, which contain 3He created through fusion reactions on the sun. The 3He content in the Moon surface has been characterized by analyses of lunar samples brought by the Apollo and Luna missions. The 3He abundance is estimated at about 30 μg per g of regolith.9Wittenberg L.J. Santarius J.F. Kulcinski G.L. Lunar Source of 3He for Commercial Fusion Power.Fusion Technol. 1986; 10: 167-178Crossref Google Scholar Taking into account a depth of 3 m (3He is implanted from energetic particles and therefore concentrated near the surface), the lunar reserves would be of the order of 1 million tons, corresponding to 600 ZJ (1 Zettajoule = 1021 joules) i.e., about 1,000 times the annual world total primary energy consumption. Mining 3He on the moon is therefore often mentioned as a justification for new lunar missions and space resource exploitation, although the economic viability of lunar mining is not trivial but is outside the scope of this paper. It is important to stress that the D and lithium resources on Earth are so abundant that the case to mine on the moon will be difficult to make from an economic point of view. A few points need to be considered regarding the technical feasibility of D-3He fusion. Although the reaction itself does not produce neutrons, some D-D reactions can happen (reactions 2a and 2b), forming T and neutrons in the process. Since the D-T reaction has a much higher reactivity (Figure 1), D-T reactions will compete with the D-3He reaction and will result in significant neutron production (albeit strongly reduced compered to pure D-T). In practice, the D-3He scheme is therefore not aneutronic.2Stott P.E. The feasibility of using D– 3 He and D–D fusion fuels.Plasma Phys. Contr. Fusion. 2005; 47: 1305Crossref Scopus (29) Google Scholar,10Rider T.H. Fundamental limitations on plasma fusion systems not in thermodynamic equilibrium.Phys. Plasmas. 1997; 4: 1039Crossref Scopus (24) Google Scholar The use of 3He rich mixture (i.e., with a decreased D content) can still strongly reduce neutron production and increase the material lifetime. Besides the temperature requirements, the technical feasibility of this scheme will depend on the underlying plasma physics, which dictate the possible confinement schemes. In a magnetically confined plasma, an important parameter is β, the ratio of the plasma pressure p to the magnetic pressure pB, with B the magnetic field (kB is the Boltzmann constant, Ti the temperature):β=ppB=nkBTiB2/2μ0 In a tokamak, β is typically of the order of a few percent, while spherical tokamaks (with lower aspect ratios) can achieve values of about 40%. There exists a limit on the plasma pressure, which can be confined. Other confinement devices such as the field reversed configuration (FRC) could attain much higher values. For a given magnetic field and for temperatures maximizing the reaction rates (13 keV for D-T and 60 keV for D-3He), the product βτE would need to be 24 times higher for a D-3He-fueled reactor than for a D-T-fueled reactor for both to reach ignition. The ratio increases to 61 times for a 15% D-85% D-3He mixture. Another interesting parameter for a reactor is the volume averaged power density (Pf), which scales as the square of the plasma pressure p2 (or β2B4) and influences the possible cost of electricity. To get the same electricity producing power density, a 50% D-50% 3He fuel mixture would require a plasma pressure 9 times higher than a D-T reactor, while this ratio increases to 14 times for a 15% D-85% D-3He mixture. At the temperatures required for D-3He fusion, bremsstrahlung and synchrotron radiation will become important and will radiate a significant fraction of the plasma power.2Stott P.E. The feasibility of using D– 3 He and D–D fusion fuels.Plasma Phys. Contr. Fusion. 2005; 47: 1305Crossref Scopus (29) Google Scholar The plasma needs to be hot enough to not be limited by bremsstrahlung but not too hot that synchrotron radiation becomes too high. Such effects are not important in D-T fusion. Another advantage often mentioned for aneutronic fusion is the possibility to use direct energy conversion to convert the plasma energy into electricity, promising efficiencies up to 60%–70%. A D-T reactor would work with a classical steam cycle where neutrons heat a fluid that is used to generate steam and produce electricity through turbines, as in thermal power plants (coal, nuclear). This limits the conversion efficiency at around 30%–40% if steam is used, but advanced reactor designs with hot gases or salts have been proposed to raise the efficiency up to 60%. As a matter of comparison, typical nuclear power plants have conversion efficiencies in the range of 35%, whereas advanced gas power plants with combined cycle have efficiencies up to 50%–60%. While the first generation of fusion power plants will most likely not exhibit optimized efficiency and capacity factor,11Mulder R.A. Melese Y. Lopes Cardozo N.J. Plant efficiency: a sensitivity analysis of the capacity factor for fusion power plants with high recirculated power.Nucl. Fusion. 2021; 61: 046032Crossref Scopus (1) Google Scholar it is reasonable to expect that fusion reactors will tend to higher efficiencies to become economically more attractive. Direct energy conversion has not been demonstrated at scale yet and encompasses very significant technical challenges.10Rider T.H. Fundamental limitations on plasma fusion systems not in thermodynamic equilibrium.Phys. Plasmas. 1997; 4: 1039Crossref Scopus (24) Google Scholar More fundamentally, for D-3He fusion, bremsstrahlung and synchrotron radiation will become important and will radiate significant fraction of the plasma power,2Stott P.E. The feasibility of using D– 3 He and D–D fusion fuels.Plasma Phys. Contr. Fusion. 2005; 47: 1305Crossref Scopus (29) Google Scholar will increase the level of power deposition on the main chamber wall. This heat will be collected through a cooling system and reduce the amount of charged particle power available for direct energy conversion and thus the overall efficiency. Given all those difficulties, and since thermal energy conversion is a well-known technique, it is difficult at this point to see whether it will be able to deliver on its promises. An important note is that aneutronic fusion makes the power exhaust more difficult since all the energy is carried by the plasma and follows the magnetic field, leaning toward open magnetic configurations whose performances are still far from those of tokamaks. Mastering fusion for energy production is extremely difficult. Looking at the triple product (a measure of the plasma performance), the progress between the mid-1960s and the mid-1990s has been rather impressive with a doubling time every 18 months on average over that period—compared with Moore’s law and the doubling of the number of transistors on a chip every 24 months. The rate of progress has stalled since the mid-1990s mainly because of the inertia of ITER. The current planning for ITER foresees a first plasma around 2025 and the start of fusion operations a decade later. The European roadmap for fusion aims at a demonstration reactor (DEMO) producing electricity in the 2050s.12Donné A.J.H. The European roadmap towards fusion electricity.Philos. Trans. A Math. Phys. Eng. Sci. 2019; 377: 20170432PubMed Google Scholar If one follows that development plan and uses the same deployment rates for fusion as for other energy technologies13Kramer G.J. Haigh M. No quick switch to low-carbon energy.Nature. 2009; 462: 568-569Crossref PubMed Scopus (167) Google Scholar (Figure 2), fusion could produce a few percent of the world energy demand (WED) toward the end of the century. Several initiatives, some of them private, are trying to accelerate this timeline with a high-risk/high-payoff approach taking advantage of recent technology developments and have a much more aggressive timeline. This is an encouraging sign that fusion development is now taken seriously and that there is a will to try and make fusion happen as soon as possible. If one of these initiatives could demonstrate fusion in the period 2025 to 2030, fusion could represent 1% of the world energy demand around 2060 and could play a more significant role in the second half of the century. D-T has focused most of the attention and to date, very little research is done on D-3He. Active research is ongoing on materials development and T breeding as those challenges need to be solved for fusion to reach commercial exploitation. The much more demanding plasma performances and absence of viable supply chain for 3He make it a much more hypothetical technology, unlikely to see increased interest in the near future. The situation might change once a demonstration of fusion energy is made, be it by ITER or one of the private ventures, as fusion would then enter into the realm of feasible energy technologies and should see increased levels of funding. For all those reasons, D-3He fusion would only become a potential technology for a second or third generation of fusion reactors, the development of which would only really start when D-T fusion reactors get massively deployed. Several conditions need to be met if D-3He is to become a reality:•D-T fusion proves successful and is massively adopted•The material lifetime issue and T breeding requirements are too demanding•Suitable technologies exist for massive recovery of 3He from the moon•The price of resource import from the moon becomes competitive with those of terrestrial resources•Too-rapid depletion of vital resources for D-T Those conditions are unlikely to be met before at least the end of the 21st century. It is of course not possible to predict how things will develop in later centuries to come, but it is clear that D-T fusion, if mastered, would provide a very attractive source of energy with abundant resources. Would humanity benefit from the use of another scheme in the very long term? Perhaps, but at present the case is certainly not very strong in front of the technical challenges it encompasses.

The Dilemma Between the Freedom to Use and the Proscription against Appropriating Outer Space and Celestial Bodies

Abstract Although a large-scale extraction of resources from outer space does not seem feasible yet, associated legal debates are already underway. Indeed, anticipating a race for space resources, some States are taking the lead in enacting legislation regulating future exploitation by their subjects. Sales of “extraterrestrial real estate” by private entities have been taking place for decades. This article addresses the topic of exploitation of space resources from an international law perspective—regardless of whether it will be firmly on the agenda tomorrow or in thirty years’ time. The crucial issue is to establish if, and eventually how, it is possible to conciliate the two principles at stake here: freedom to use outer space and celestial bodies, which arguably includes exploitation, and the impermissibility of their appropriation. It will be pointed out that, rather than proposing a comprehensive and rigid mechanism, the Outer Space Treaty and the Moon Agreement could represent a starting point, a proactive framework for achieving consensus among States and for seeking multilateral solutions for the exploitation of space resources.

International space law of the era of the beginning of the business colonization of space

Traditional approach to the activity in outer space as exclusive domain of few big space faring states through special governmental agencies as a sort of natural monopolies is rapidly placing by the prevailing view that such activity could be successfully and efficiently performed by private entities and fair competition between such players shall be allowed and is even desirable. Increasing participation of private capital in exploration of the resources of outer space is a persuasive confirmation of the emerging large-scale, self-sufficient economy of the New Space attractive for potential investors. Such economy requires sufficient level of legal certainty in a form of effective legal rules adequately reflecting contemporary reality and capable to guarantee the rights of commercial players in exploration of space resources including ownership rights on space resources obtained. Arguably, such reshaping of international space law will take place outside the UN and would not be based on the concept of space as a common heritage of mankind. Main drivers of this reshaping will be unilateral national laws like the U.S. Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act or Luxembourg Space, bilateral agreements or international treaties with small number of participants (like the International Space Station Agreement or the Artemis Accords). Such national practice and international treaties claiming that they are adopted in implementation and in full conformity with the Outer Space Treaty will be viewed as subsequent practice and subsequent agreements clarifying, amending and even modifying rather vague provisions of the Outer Space Treaty. The values of the Outer Space Treaty will increase due to a lack of strict rules regulating or prohibiting commercial exploitation of space resources. It will allow to perform evolutionary reform of international space law using new avenues of the treaty creating new rules which will implement and improve provisions of the Outer Space Treaty.

Fundamental Principles of Space Resources Exploitation: A Recent Development of International and Municipal Law

Space law is normally referred to international space law. As national space activities develop, however, national space laws have been legislated in many countries for the development of space resources. These are used to present conflicting cases between national and international space law (corpus juris spatialis internationalis) on the interpretation of space resource exploitation. This study is devoted to bridging the gap between these two legal systems. In this paper, the author will critically review the fundamental principles of space resource exploitation under international law and suggest a direction for setting up national space laws for future space resources. This paper is composed of seven parts, including a short Introduction and Conclusion. Part two will discuss acts pertaining to asteroid resources. Part three will deal with res extra commercium. Part four will analyze the non-appropriation principle. Part five will look into the common heritage of mankind. Part six will investigate res nullius humanitatus.

Can space mining benefit all of humanity?: The resource fund and citizen's dividend model of Alaska, the ‘last frontier’

Economically profitable resource exploitation in space is becoming increasingly feasible as more actors - national, public and private-are engaging in space exploration. The Outer Space Treaty (OST), which serves as the basis for the current corpus juris spatialis, declares that no government can claim sovereignty over celestial bodies or outer space itself. Because this is generally interpreted as denying private ownership, the OST is sometimes claimed to be an obstacle to commercial venture, particularly resource exploitation. Such claims ignore a wealth of terrestrial models which promote profitable commercial resource exploitation independent of fee-simple ownership. To achieve an approach to space exploration and exploitation which balances national, international, and commercial interests and a need to prevent conflict and militarization of outer space, terrestrial approaches to managing resource exploitation should be carefully examined for frameworks and mechanisms with potential to serve as models in further elaborating an international regime for space resource exploitation. A previously overlooked terrestrial example, the Alaska Permanent Fund, and its unique citizen's dividend, is explored as one possible model for such a balanced approach that could encourage profit-driven exploration and exploitation of extra-terrestrial resources, reduce the risk of conflict between actors in outer space and simultaneously accrue tangible benefits to all of humanity.

Book Review: Exclusive Use in an Inclusive Environment: The Meaning of the Non-Appropriation Principle for Space Resource Exploitation, by Philip De Man. (Series: Space Regulations Library. vol

Book Review: <i>Exclusive Use in an Inclusive Environment: The Meaning of the Non-Appropriation Principle for Space Resource Exploitation,</i> by Philip De Man. (Series: Space Regulations Library. vol

LEGALITY OF UNILATERAL EXPLOITATION OF SPACE RESOURCES UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW

AbstractIn recent years, there has been a surge of private investment in space resources and the enactment of domestic legislation aimed at protecting property rights over the resources to be extracted. This article argues that the unilateral exploitation of space resources is not prohibited by the principle of non-appropriation and is consistent with the freedom of use for common benefit and interests, with the caveat that it does not exclude others from exploitation or exacerbate inequality among States. It also argues that a laissez-faire approach would be detrimental to the orderly, sustainable and safe exploitation and use of space resources and calls for the establishment of an international regulatory regime consisting of rules concerning international coordination, benefits sharing and environmental protection.

CSR in Space: Corporate Social Responsibility Principles for the Space Industries

Laws already exist which govern space, as do corporate social responsibility (CSR) guidelines for companies operating on Earth and a growing movement pushing for legal clarity inter alia concerning property rights in space. Until now, no effort has been made to analyse the mutual implications of these developments-and consequently to produce CSR guidelines based on them, for space. Terrestrial CSR has evolved to fill gaps in national legal and policy frameworks by formulating principles and guidance, sometimes based on soft law instruments. This function of remedying legal uncertainties makes CSR an ideal tool and approach for defining and addressing responsible corporate behaviour in space. CSR Guidelines for Space ought to help public and private actors alike achieve the sustainable commercial exploitation of space resources. CSR should be taken seriously by space industries because: 1) It can help to guide companies to act in a socially responsible way in areas where legal standards are still developing, 2) It can help ensure a continued “social license to operate” with reference to terrestrial stakeholders, 3) It can help to build renewed support for public and private investment in space science and space industries.I argue that CSR Guidelines for Space should address the following 10 issues:Monitoring, Safety, Transparency, Accountability, Conservation, Health, Psychological Health, Environment, Space junk and Respect to Property.

On the Moral Permissibility of Terraforming

Terraforming is a process of planetary engineering by which the extant environment of a planet is manipulated so as to produce an Earth-like ecosystem. This paper explores the ethical questions about the exploration of space and the exploitation of space resources that arise in the consideration of terraforming. I argue that space advocacy (including the pursuit of terraforming) and environmentalism are mutually beneficial endeavors. I show that the moral status of terraforming a planet, at least under traditional anthropocentric and non-anthropocentric positions, is sensitive to whether life exists on the candidate planet. I also examine several attempts—due to Holmes Rolston, Keekok Lee, Alan Marshall, and Robert Sparrow—to show that terraforming a planet would be impermissible even if the planet was not home to life. I argue that no attempt provides compelling reasons for the supposition that terraforming is morally impermissible.

Synergistic approach of asteroid exploitation and planetary protection

The asteroid and cometary impact hazard has long been recognised as an important issue requiring risk assessment and contingency planning. At the same time asteroids have also been acknowledged as possible sources of raw materials for future large-scale space engineering ventures. This paper explores possible synergies between these two apparently opposed views; planetary protection and space resource exploitation. In particular, the paper assumes a 5 tonne low-thrust spacecraft as a baseline for asteroid deflection and capture (or resource transport) missions. The system is assumed to land on the asteroid and provide a continuous thrust able to modify the orbit of the asteroid according to the mission objective. The paper analyses the capability of such a near-term system to provide both planetary protection and asteroid resources to Earth. Results show that a 5 tonne spacecraft could provide a high level of protection for modest impact hazards: airburst and local damage events (caused by 15–170 m diameter objects). At the same time, the same spacecraft could also be used to transport to bound Earth orbits significant quantities of material through judicious use of orbital dynamics and passively safe aero-capture manoeuvres or low energy ballistic capture. As will be shown, a 5 tonne low-thrust spacecraft could potentially transport between 12 and 350 times its own mass of asteroid resources by means of ballistic capture or aero-capture trajectories that pose very low dynamical pressures on the object.

Development of the Natural Resources of the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies: Economic and Legal Aspects

The path of gradual commercialization of current space applications, such as launch services, satellite communication services, direct broadcasting services, satellite remote sensing and navigation services, and satellite weather monitoring services, will most likely be followed by future activities of use of space resources. Ventures, like mining the natural resources of the Moon and asteroids, are likely to become technologically feasible in the near future. The question is what would be the most appropriate approach to address the future needs of exploitation of space resources: should it remain the exclusive province of state governments; should the private sector take over such space activities; or should a public-private partnership type of venture be encouraged? As state governments are becoming constrained by budget deficits, an increased reliance on private sector involvement in space activities involving the extraction and use of space resources is to be expected. When deciding whether to invest in commercial ventures of resource use exploitation, any potential private investor will be faced with the issues of economic costs, risks, and perceived regulatory barriers. This study argues that the perceived regulatory barriers, i.e., the licensing requirement, the “common heritage of mankind” principle of international space law, and protection of intellectual property rights, are not obstacles to economic development. Governments should provide both policy and regulatory incentives for private sector participation in the area of space natural resource use by funding basic research and development and by sponsoring liability insurance for private ventures among other incentives.

Vacuum Coater

Economically profitable resource exploitation in space is becoming increasingly feasible as more actors - national, public and private-are engaging in space exploration. The Outer Space Treaty (OST), which serves as the basis for the current corpus juris spatialis, declares that no government can claim sovereignty over celestial bodies or outer space itself. Because this is generally interpreted as denying private ownership, the OST is sometimes claimed to be an obstacle to commercial venture, particularly resource exploitation. Such claims ignore a wealth of terrestrial models which promote profitable commercial resource exploitation independent of fee-simple ownership. To achieve an approach to space exploration and exploitation which balances national, international, and commercial interests and a need to prevent conflict and militarization of outer space, terrestrial approaches to managing resource exploitation should be carefully examined for frameworks and mechanisms with potential to serve as models in further elaborating an international regime for space resource exploitation. A previously overlooked terrestrial example, the Alaska Permanent Fund, and its unique citizen's dividend, is explored as one possible model for such a balanced approach that could encourage profit-driven exploration and exploitation of extra-terrestrial resources, reduce the risk of conflict between actors in outer space and simultaneously accrue tangible benefits to all of humanity.