Asteroid Moon and Space Resources Attorney Sebastian Gibson

Asteroid Moon and Space Resources Attorney Sebastian Gibson

Nearly fifty years since California Asteroid Moon and Space Resources Attorney Sebastian Gibson broke legal ground with an article on deep sea mining for manganese nodules on the ocean floor, today the world is quickly moving closer to developing resources in space, on asteroids, the moon and other celestial bodies.

Just as seabed mining has become a reality despite the United Nations Law of the Sea Convention, so too it’s an almost certainty that nations will seize upon a loophole in the 1967 Outer Space Treaty to mine and extract water and rare-Earth minerals and other resources from asteroids and the moon in the near future and other celestial bodies such as planets further into the future.

While many have written this is completely new ground so to speak, it’s hardly so. Countries, explorers and resource companies have long sought and cultivated resources in numerous forbidding habitats where others have had either no recorded claims or where they have ignored the claims of indigenous peoples. And treaties such as the Outer Space Treaty which has been signed and ratified by over a hundred countries will almost certainly prove to be no obstacle to countries and private enterprise seeking to develop resources in space.  Let us hope, commercial enterprises and countries which in the future develop resources in space, do it without making the mistakes of the past.

One could argue that the destruction of rain forests, the poisoning of the oceans with plastic, the effect of global warming on areas such as the Arctic and the extinction of species on Earth are all having such a dire effect, that exploration of space is becoming more and more necessary. Indeed it’s as a result of the depletion of the Earth’s resources that humans are now, as they have been for some time, planning to go into space to find the fuel for deep space travel and the rare-Earth minerals that can provide a possible reprieve for the human race.

For Space Lawyers such as California Asteroid Moon and Space Resources Attorney Sebastian Gibson, this is an exciting time in the development of space law and the technology to obtain resources from asteroids, Earth’s moon and other celestial bodies within only years from now and from other planets such as Mars farther in the future.

Some of the Most Recent Developments in Moon, Asteroid and Space Resources Law

In 1963, the UN adopted the Declaration of Legal Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Uses of Outer Space. Among the five declarations, the most important of which was that no one nation may claim ownership of outer space or any celestial body.

The 1979 Agreement Governing the Activities of States on the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies similarly held that all countries should have equal rights to conduct research on the moon or other celestial bodies.

The Outer Space Treaty, formally the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, is today the treaty which forms the basis of international space law. The treaty was signed by the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union and entered into force on October 10th 1967. As of February 2019, 108 countries are parties to the treaty, while another 23 have signed the treaty but have not completed their ratification.

The 1967 Outer Space Treaty explicitly forbids any government to claim a celestial resource such as the Moon or a planet. Article II of the treaty states that “outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means.”

But while the 1967 Treaty forbids governments from claiming sovereignty, it is silent on whether a private company may extract, possess, utilize or sell space resources mined from celestial bodies. And if they may do so, will the private companies be taxed, and if so, by whom? If one country chooses not to do so, will every company interested in developing space resources then choose to be based in that country in order to avoid taxation?

What other effects will space mining produce? Is there a chance an asteroid’s trajectory could be affected so that it strikes Earth? Are we moving so fast that at some point historians all lament how we moved at a breakneck speed? Or are we moving too slow given that we’re depleting the Earth’s resources as never before, polluting our seas with plastic, raising the Earth’s temperature with greenhouse gasses and making our water unsafe to drink and our air unsafe to breathe.

Article IV of the Outer Space Treaty requires authorization and continued supervision over any private launches in outer space, to the moon and other celestial bodies by non-governmental entities. This would thereby suggest that national agencies can authorize not only launches into outer space, but their activities in developing space resources as well. At the very least, if parties to the treaty plan to develop space resources, they need a governmental agency to authorize and supervise launches by their citizens and companies intent on developing and utilizing resources in space.

The Space Station Intergovernmental Agreement treaty was signed on January 28, 1998 by fifteen governments involved in the International Space Station project. The ISS consists of Canada, Japan, the Russian Federation, the United States, and eleven Member States of the European Space Agency (Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom).

This Agreement provides for long term international cooperation for the design, development, operation, and utilization of the permanently inhabited civil Space Station for peaceful purposes, in accordance with international law.

The Space Station Agreement has subsequently fostered additional agreements between NASA, the manager of the ISS and four other partners which describe the roles and responsibilities of the partners in more detail and which set forth the terms and conditions under which NASA purchases seats on crew transporters and cargo capacity on unmanned transporters.

Another set of agreements implement and supplement the other memorandums of understanding between the partners among which is the ISS code of conduct, setting out criminal jurisdiction, anti-harassment and certain other behavior rules for ISS crewmembers.

Today with what the future holds in the way of space tourism, asteroid, moon and planetary mining, exploration and resource development by commercial enterprises and the development of permanent habitats on the Earth’s moon, other planetary moons and planets and commercial spaceports, the nations of the Earth are considering how such space activities should be regulated and whether it will be possible for the countries with the desire and ability to conduct them will be able to agree on the rules for peaceful and safe space exploration, research, resource development, permanent habitats and space travel, without the use of weapons or disputes over ownership.

Developed nation are concerned with ensuring that investments in these activities are protected by international space law while developing nations are concerned that space resources will be monopolized before they’re able to take part in such space activities. If indeed space is for all humankind, developing nations would like to see royalties paid to those without the resources to develop space themselves.

The issue of royalties has been discussed at the UN before and it’s one reason why the United States refused to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. It’s easy to see it will be no easier to convince the current administration of the U.S. and other nations to pay royalties today from profits made by their commercial enterprises in space and those of space companies based in their countries.

From the aspect of countries, corporations, entrepreneurs and private investment, they believe without the ability to establish property rights in space and the ability to make exclusive property claims and the ability to prevent others from profiting from their investments, commercialization will be impeded not only for commercial development but for human habitation as well.

Without some legal framework, commercial entrepreneurs claim investors won’t be willing to finance the research and development necessary to build industries on the moon. They say assurance is needed from the U.S. government that private-sector developments and activities will be not only approved but also protected by law.

In a decision made in 2014, but not made public until 2015, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s Office of the Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transport, along with the involvement of NASA, the Department of State and the Department of Defense responded favorably to a payload review request by Bigelow Aerospace related to commercial development of the moon.

As a result of the FAA/AST decision, Bigelow Aerospace was assured that the AST would, as much as possible, protect private sector assets on the moon in order to provide for a safe environment for U.S. companies and entrepreneurs to conduct commercial activities on the moon without fear their activities would be interfered with by other AST licensees.

Bigelow Aerospace did not ask for property rights on the moon. Indeed, to do so would be contrary to the principle contained in the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 that no nation may claim any part of the moon or any other celestial body.

But while the Outer Space Treaty refers only to government claims of sovereignty over the moon or other celestial bodies, there is a split of opinion whether it equally prevents individuals, companies, and other entrepreneurs as well from making such claims over resources they mine.

While the FAA/AST decision does nothing to assure U.S. companies that their commercial activities on the moon will suffer no interference from companies or individuals from other countries who are not licensed by AST, the decision has been considered a laying down of a gauntlet so to speak or at least a conversation starter if not a first step toward developing a legal framework for the regulation and licensing of commercial activities on the moon, and by virtue thereof, on other celestial bodies.

Clearly, while it is within the authority of the U.S. Federal Aviation Authority to grant licenses to send payloads to the moon with the condition that the licensee not interfere with other licensees, the decision leaves open whether companies have the right to develop and extract resources, and possess, use and sell what they extract.

By using its licensing authority, the FAA is seeking to protect the equipment and ensure the safety of its citizens by outlawing interference in accordance with international law.

Whether the international community will recognize the U.S. agency as an international licensing agency or develop an independent international celestial body licensing agency through the U.N. remains to be seen.

The question thus becomes, are such resources like fish, where once caught become the property of the fisherman? Or are they still the resources of the celestial body, over which no claim of ownership can be made? Or finally, is there a moral duty of resource developers, whether governmental or private sector, to share the profits with all humankind.

If precedents over past centuries are followed, such resources will almost certainly be allowed to be developed by the private sector with the spoils being theirs to own, use or sell and the profits to be theirs and those of their investors, albeit over the objections of developing nations and environmentally concerned individuals.

What remained needed after the FAA/AST decision, was a grant of greater authority to the FAA to regulate commercial activities on the moon and other celestial bodies.

With the concerns of space entrepreneurs in mind, on November 25, 2015, President Obama therefore signed the U.S. Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act into law. The law encourages the commercial exploration and development of resources from asteroids and recognizes the right of U.S. citizens to own, possess, transport, use and sell any asteroid or other space resources they obtain from such development.

And so, as we approach nearly fifty years after refusing to sign the United Nations Law of the Sea Convention after it became open for signature, despite its ratification by 168 parties, the U.S. has now chosen to take a similar position with respect to resource development in space.

In another development in space law, on August 1st, 2017, the Luxembourg Law on the exploration and use of space resources came into force, declaring celestial resources “capable of being appropriated.” It’s not surprising to see the country of Luxembourg passing such a law as it has offered research and development investments to space resource companies through a fund established exactly for this purpose.

The Luxembourg law was revised in response to the negative advice of the Conseil d’État which advises the government of Luxembourg, however it still does not extinguish concern about the effectiveness and merit of adopting national laws proclaiming space resources fair game for appropriation.

Clearly, the evolution of space law is needed and needed quickly. Space exploration is here as is the capability to develop and extract resources on asteroids, the Earth’s moon and other celestial bodies. NASA and other space agencies have missions planned which will demonstrate asteroid mining to not only be capable but quite feasible with today’s technology.

NASA’s Osiris-Rex spacecraft, currently orbiting asteroid Bennu, will be the first U.S. mission to bring an asteroid sample to Earth. It will spend two years mapping Bennu. The maps will then be used to select the site where the spacecraft will use its robotic arm to collect loose dust and broken rocks from the surface of the asteroid. The sample will be stored on the spacecraft and returned to Earth in September 2023.

Japan’s Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Hayabusa mission has already returned grains of dust from the near-Earth asteroid, Itokawa and their Hayabusa2 spacecraft is in the process of surveying the asteroid Ryugu for a year and after collecting samples by utilizing four rovers will depart in December 2019, and return to Earth in December 2020.

The international space station and its numerous agreements can and do act as a guide to human habitation of a permanent station in space. The International Space Station shows the advantages of numerous nations living together under the same roof not only for their ability to share resources, but also to solve problems together as they live together in space.

Permanent habitats and space mining enterprises will undoubtedly need police forces to keep the peace, but for every new enterprise and for each novel situation which may arise, there are solutions if the human species will put their minds to the task of living in peace while utilizing the riches of space for the good of all humankind. Moonquakes are an example of the surprises space can provide.

Recently it’s been determined that the moon is tectonically active and it’s insides might be warmer than scientists previously thought even possible. It tuns out that the moon is shrinking as it cools down, and as it does, the moon’s brittle crust breaks and is thrust over other areas of crust. With that being the case, human habitation sites could be more dangerous unless consideration of the moon crust’s brittle nature and areas prone to moonquakes in their construction. While moonquakes may provide moon inhabitants with a feeling of being home, they could also prove deadly.

Despite the developments in technology to mine asteroids and to launch missions to the moon, the U.S. has been slow in approving rocket payloads to the moon as the company, Moon Express found when they had a mission planned in 2015, had interested investors, but couldn’t find anyone to give their blessing until nearly a year later for their first mission.

The fear remains that if Congress and the Executive Branch do not find a way to work together to more rapidly approve launches into space, to the moon, asteroids and other celestial bodies, the key players in the race for space resources may look for other countries such as Luxembourg, which may be the most space-friendly country, to base their company and employ their scientists.

In May 2018, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced that he would be creating a Space Policy Advancing Commercial Enterprise Administration to coordinate the Department’s engagement in commercial space activities and to allow commercial space companies to obtain whatever regulatory approvals they need to conduct business.

U.S. commercial space companies that want to launch an object into space or bring it back to Earth, however still need a license from the Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST) at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which is part of the Department of Transportation.

The Artemis Accords

In May 2020 at a forum held by the Secure World Foundation, NASA unveiled the Artemis Accords, a legal framework that optimistically will govern how countries and mining and exploration companies will operate in space and on the moon and other celestial bodies where mining is expected to take place.

While similar to the rules which govern resources of the world’s oceans, the Artemis Accords would require mining companies in space to provide pictures of the material extracted and the locations where materials are recovered.

However, just as the oceans are being overfished and polluted despite rising concerns, there is some concern whether the Artemis Accords will be followed by other countries.

Among the companies already contracted with NASA to fly science experiments and cargo to the moon ahead of a human landing are Astrobotic, SpaceX, Blue Origin, Sierra Nevada Corp and Lockheed Martin. NASA hopes to return to the moon by 2024.

The Artemis Accords create “safety zones” around sites where mining and exploration would take place on the lunar surface and elsewhere in space.

The position of the United States is that nations and companies should be allowed to extract and use resources on the moon. The new legal framework, known as the Artemis Accords, comes as the U.S. space agency works to return people to the lunar surface by 2024.

NASA’s hope is that countries will agree that signing the accords becomes a requirement for the world’s countries to participate in lunar exploration.

It’s the position of NASA that the Artemis Accords do nothing to change the 1967 Outer Space Treaty which prohibits nations from making claims to areas of the moon and other celestial bodies and that they follow the tenets of the treaty. The aim of the accords is similarly to promote peaceful purposes and to allow nations to participate safely in outer space.

The Washington Post which has obtained a copy of the accords has reported that under the accords, parties would be required to publicly release the extent and general nature of operations taking place within the proposed safety zones while still taking into account appropriate protection of business confidential, national security, and export controlled information.

With vague language like that, the accords have already met resistance from Russia’s space agency. NASA, however, is hopeful that Russia, will still be a signatory.

The goals of the accords and the creation of safety zones are well meaning. They have been designed to encourage scientific discovery, technology demonstration, and the safe and efficient extraction and utilization of space resources, as opposed to a land grab resulting in space conflict.

It’s probably the requirement that countries and companies exploring and extracting minerals from celestial bodies to publicly reveal the extent and general nature of their operations taking place within the zones that is going to run into resistance.

The introduction of the Artemis Accords is in conjunction with NASA’s plans to return humans to the moon for the first time since 1972 under its Artemis program. NASA is planning to establish a permanent presence in lunar orbit and on the surface. NASA is specifically looking at the moon’s south pole where there is water in the form of ice. With the ballooning of the federal deficit, a roadblock to the cost of the program may come in Congress.

China also wants to reach the lunar south pole. With the current failures of diplomacy between the U.S. and China, their participation in the accords may prove difficult to obtain. However, NASA hopes that if the U.S. follows the tenets of the accords and sets a standard of behavior, it could help influence the way countries operate in space even if some countries do not become signatories.

The aim of creating the safety zones around mining sites called for in the accords is to prevent nations from claiming control of lunar territory. The zones do not establish ownership; rather they are aimed at establishing safety and coordination.

NASA wants to avoid conflict and wants to establish principals that can potentially not only benefit NASA and its allies. The accords follow a law passed in 2015 that allows companies the rights to resources they extract from the moon. The question for countries without the technology or resources to participate in space exploration will be, “What’s in it for us?”

Providing a framework for acceptable behavior in space is all well and good, just as providing emergency assistance in the event of a catastrophe or and injured astronaut. But will countries really be willing to share scientific data or the rewards of exploration and extraction of lunar and celestial resources. If not, there may not be many signatories to the accords and those countries which do sign my feel the need to keep the locations and extent of their excavations on the lunar surface and other celestial bodies private.

Space Resources on the Moon, Asteroids and Other Celestial Bodies

Perhaps the most valuable resource in space for space travel and fuel for rockets and satellites, is water, which is now believed to be abundant both on the Earth’s moon, on asteroids and on Mars. Water that can be converted to oxygen to sustain astronauts and permanent inhabitants on the moon, on Mars and on other planets and hydrogen can also serve as a rocket propellant as can Helium-3.

Water can be used to re-power satellites which would otherwise become space junk, though possibly still useful space junk. By means of electrical conversion (electrolysis), water can be converted into hydrogen and oxygen for fuel. Both hydrogen and oxygen can be used as rocket propellent. Oxygen, as we all know, can also provide astronauts and moon inhabitants with the air to breathe. Over 600 million tonnes of water are thought to exist on the moon alone. Some asteroids are thought to contain as much as 10 percent of their mass in water, which if contained in material such as mica, can still be baked out in a solar oven.

With water available at a spaceport on the moon, space missions could go further than simply back and forth to Earth or to Mars with hydrogen or oxygen used as rocket fuel. With a cost of a billion dollars per mission, although that cost may well come down in the future, the business of refueling otherwise defunct satellites could still be a multi-billion dollar business. While Helium-3 may have potential as a possible fuel for future fusion reactors on Earth, it is still unclear whether it will be practical as a long term power solution.

Rare-Earth minerals that can be mined and utilized on the moon and on other planets as well as transported back to Earth are estimated to be worth quadrillions of dollars. It’s further believed some asteroids contain enough iron, nickel and cobalt to furnish the needs of Earth for the next few thousand years.

As fears grow resources on Earth that raw materials and minerals such as copper, lead, zinc, tin and silver could be exhausted within the next hundred years, the desire to find and develop these materials in space will soon become not simply an aspiration but a necessity.

Helium-3 isotope is already a very scarce gas on Earth and has the potential to become a non-polluting fuel for fusion nuclear reactors. The moon is thought to have an abundance of Helium-3 as well as titanium, aluminum and iron and as mentioned, large amounts of water.

With the cost of importing such minerals back to Earth, the usage of these minerals in space will be more economical which means industrialization of the moon is in the future as well.

Those areas of the moon with constant sunshine are also expected to be a valuable resource and highly sought after for inhabitation for the ability to recharge solar batteries from the sunlight on such prized moon land.

Earth Precedents for Asteroid Moon and Space Resources Attorneys Such As Sebastian Gibson

Legal scholars often claim there are no precedents for the development of resources in space, on the moon, on asteroids or other planets. And yet, we are a world of countries, of laws, treaties, and most important of all, we have centuries of precedents, of experience, some good, many bad, in how we’ve handled exploration and exploitation of the Earth’s resources. If we do not look to our past experiences with the development of resources, where else would we look?

While there have been land grabs, the forced removal of indigenous peoples, extinction of species and wars fought over resource rich countries and areas of land, we have as a species, at least in some cases, avoided claims of outright ownership of vast areas of the planet including the world’s oceans, the Arctic and Antarctica, and until more recently the seabed floor.

With exceptions, such as those areas of the oceans where countries claim a proprietary interest for fishing a specific number of miles from their shores, any country can ply their fishing fleets to catch fish and once caught, claim ownership over the catch and take it back to their country for consumption and sale.

Any country can fly over the unclaimed seas, the Arctic and Antarctica without fear of their planes being shot down. Ice fishermen and even gold miners in the Bering Sea are able to find a spot for their enterprise and obtain the resources they seek without having to set up permanent structures and employ armies to protect their locations.

Above the Earth, any country can deploy their satellites without having to seek the permission of another country claiming a certain altitude or location.

What’s Different in Utilizing Resources in Space and Yet The Same As It Is On Earth

What may be the biggest difference between a fishing boat on the Earth’s oceans and developing resources on an asteroid, the moon or another planet is the permanency that may be required for resource development on asteroids, the Earth’s moon and other celestial bodies.

Habitats will clearly require more permanency than that of an ice fisherman, a boat captain or a satellite operated from Earth. And yet, research stations in the Arctic have existed for decades without wars being fought over their locations.

Cost is another difference between resource development on Earth and in space. It will be far more expensive both to ferry the resources to the moon, to drill for resources on an asteroid or to fly to Mars or other planets than to fish for tuna or search for gold on the floor of the Bering Sea. But as time goes on, as permanent habitats are built, and water on distant bodies in space can be used to fuel satellites and rocket travel, the cost will come down, especially when viewed with the potential value of the resources that may be developed.

Some of the Space Companies, Private Enterprises, Entrepreneurs and Countries involved in Space Resource Development on Asteroids, the Moon and Other Planets

Jeff Bezos’s aerospace company, Blue Origin, intends to transport people to live on the moon by the year 2024. First the company intends to ferry up to 6.5 tons of equipment to the moon by unmanned spacecraft, followed then by inhabitants for the moon having already spent up to a billion dollars per year in research already for the past three years. Bezos also hopes to build floating spacecrafts for colonies of humans to live and rockets for space tourism.

Elon Musk hopes to develop missions to take humans to Mars in the next decade with his company, SpaceX. Musk anticipates that the company’s first cargo mission to Mars will be in 2022 and their first crewed mission in 2024. SpaceX has also been hard at work to reduced launch costs with the use of reusable rockets and has plans to send robots to the moon for a Japanese lunar exploration robotics firm, ispace.

SpaceX’s Mars Shot which featured the maiden mission of SpaceX’s Falcon heavy rocket with the mannequin “Starman” riding on it inside a Tesla Roadster, is now well beyond the orbit of Mars. Eventually, Starman’s orbit however will take it back toward Earth but still remaining no closer than the Earth is to the Sun. Eventually, in some tens of millions of years, it may slam into either Earth or Venus, though neither is a sure final destination.

Richard Branson and his company, Virgin Galactic, hope to take tourism to new heights with suborbital rides. But that’s just the start. Branson hopes to see Virgin Galactic become the Spaceline for Earth not only for individuals to experience the wonders of space but also for researchers and entrepreneurs to enable them to see the enormous potential of space exploration and how it can benefit life on Earth.

NASA’s Curiosity Rover continues to rove over Mars and NASA is planning to send crewed missions to the moon to near-Earth Asteroids and to Mars starting in the 2020s. NASA has scores of other missions and projects too numerous to name. In addition, NASA is likely to share its knowledge and expertise with American industry to build robotic landers that can carry up to 500 kilograms of payload.

NASA has also confirmed that Gateway to be an integral part of their plans (though much more funding is still needed) to return to the moon by 2024. Gateway will be positioned in a high, elliptical orbit between the Earth and the Moon’s gravity as a reusable Command Module. This is where, in NASA’s plans, astronauts will first travel from Earth before taking pre-delivered landers to take them to the lunar surface.

The Google Lunar X Prize was a 2007–2018 inducement prize space competition organized by the X Prize Foundation, and sponsored by Google. However, when no team would be able to make a launch attempt to reach the Moon by the 2018 deadline, the US$30 million Google Lunar X Prize went unclaimed. On 11 April 2019 the SpaceIL spacecraft crashed while attempting to land on the moon, but the SpaceIL team, which had still been competing but no longer for the X Prize was awarded a $1 million “Moonshot Award” by the X Prize Foundation in recognition of touching the surface of the moon.

Two U.S. companies with considerable financial backing, Planetary Resources and Deep Space Industries are planning to mine mineral resources on nearby asteroids.

Planetary Resources was formed by a group of private investors including Google executives Larry Page and Eric Schmidt, film director James Cameron and owner of Virgin, Richard Branson and additionally, has as a significant investor, the country of Luxembourg. The goal of Planetary Resources is to mine asteroids in space starting with a prospecting mission to one in 2020.

Planetary Resources expects that water will be the first resource to be marketed from space, but Deep Space Industries is more ambivalent about what may make the most sense at that point in time. Planetary Resources wants to send spacecraft to near-Earth asteroids but with so many companies now seeking to become involved in space resource development, it can be difficult to raise the investment amount required for such projects. For that reason, the investment by the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg in return for ten percent of the company was a welcome development.

Like the dialogue in the movie, Field of Dreams in which a ghost baseball player says, “Build it and they will come,” Planetary Resources and other private enterprises believe that by the time they are successful in extracting water and other minerals from asteroids or from the moon, NASA or other customers will be eager buyers of the water and rare-Earth minerals. An if they are able to extract platinum as well, that can go a long way toward financing their missions.

Deep Space Industries is a California-based firm seeking to reduce the cost of deep space explorations which are currently estimated at more than one billion dollars per mission and like Planetary Resources is interested in finding minerals and more particularly water on celestial bodies for use in space or in orbit, and the hydrogen and oxygen as fuel for spacecraft and satellites.

Deep Space Industries intends to demonstrate a low-cost spacecraft it hopes to sell commercially for deep space travel which can reveal the composition of near-Earth asteroids. This is just one indication of how difficult it remains in the near term for private sector companies not funded by billionaires or foreign governments to fund the cost of their aspirations for the future.

The long term vision of Deep Space Industries is to utilize numerous small, low-cost spacecraft to travel to numerous near-Earth asteroids at once and harvest small amounts of raw material to be analyzed and sold from spaceports. Water to be used as a propellant, or possibly rare Earth minerals might then be sold, as might metals such as those which can be utilized by 3D printers for construction in space.

Both Planetary Resources and Deep Space Industries expect to have full-scale mining operations in place on asteroids in the latter half of the 2020s.

Stratolaunch Systems, a company started by Microsoft’s Paul Allen prior to his passing, is developing a space cargo delivery system to launch payloads and satellites from Earth to improve the human condition and safeguard Earth for future generations.

Robert Bigelow of Bigelow Aerospace has invested over $200 million into mass producing commercial space station habitat modules.

Astrobotic Technology is an American privately held company that is developing space robotics technology for lunar and planetary missions.

Moon Express is an American privately-held company led by Bob Richards and is involved in the development of lunar landers to mine the moon for minerals and water. Moon Express hopes to become the first private enterprise to reach the moon, establish a permanent lunar presence and in addition to bring back the first load of moon rocks since the U.S. did so during the Apollo missions over 40 years ago and the Soviets did robotically.  Moon Express is targeting the lunar south pole’s well-lit “peaks of eternal light” for its landing sites.

Los Angeles based OffWorld is developing a new generation of universal industrial robots to do the heavy lifting on Earth’s moon, on asteroids and on Mars.

Japan’s iSpace is a private lunar exploration startup centered on micro-robotics focused in part on tapping the moon’s water resources.

Kleos Space which is developing robotic explorers to mine minerals on the moon and scouting mission satellites.

Aten Engineering provides technical solutions for detection, discovery, and characterization of near Earth asteroids, with the goal of enabling in-space resource extraction.

Transastra Corporation is developing the technology to mine the ice on the moon seeks to turn thousands of asteroids into refueling stations for NASA and commercial spacecraft. With these refueling stations, they hope outer space can be opened to NASA human exploration and commercial industries beyond imaging satellites and telecommunications by supplying services for the industries of asteroid mining, space solar power, space tourism and manufacturing in space.

Based in Britain, Asteroid Mining Corporation, like its name says, plans to be involved in asteroid mining. For now, it is developing a satellite to prospect near-Earth asteroids for mining candidates and then hopes to be involved in the extraction, processing and utilization of extra-terrestrial materials. If platinum or similar metals thought to be abundant are found and extracted, there could be trillions of dollars for the first to market, at least until the market price of those materials is drastically reduced. But first, AMC wants to put a satellite into orbit to spectrally analyze near-Earth asteroids to determine what they’re made of.

It’s expected that mining operations on the moon will begin with robots doing the actual mining. A decade after that, mining outposts are envisioned where water can be found and near sunlight as well to power solar batteries. The combination of these needs will make certain sites on the moon more advantageous and more in demand.

Countries such as Brazil and Belgium continue to believe the moon and asteroids belong to humanity and any benefits accrue to all humankind. They believe an international regime such as the one originally established for the harvesting of deep sea mineral resources is needed to govern the resource development in space to ensure the benefits are shared among all of humanity.

The argument to the contrary is that while all are agreed no country or private-sector enterprise may claim ownership over the seas on Earth, anyone can harvest the fish, or seaweed, or even the water for desalination and that the same should apply to resources in space and on celestial bodies. Others simply argue that harvesting materials or water from asteroids or other celestial bodies does not in any shape or form constitute appropriation or claims of sovereignty as prohibited by the Outer Space Treaty.

Another analysis is possible as well. If all the resources in space belong to “everyone,” that can also be interpreted to mean they are available to anyone with the ability and the funds to develop and use them rather than meaning they have to remain in situ until every country is able to jointly harvest them and split the spoils.

Besides the U.S. and Russia, China, India, Israel, South Korea, Japan and the European Space Agency all have the desire, if not plans to go to the moon and Luxembourg has already become a serious player in asteroid resource development.

Many private entrepreneurs would still like to see some type of international licensing body if only to prevent bad characters from becoming involved or arguments from occurring. The likelihood of an international framework, however, remains unlikely at the current time as most enterprises and countries have little desire to see the benefits of their citizens’ hard work and investments required to be shared with other nations who have not invested a similar amount of time, research and money in the exploration of space and the development of space resources.

Other Countries with Missions to the Moon

The China National Space Administration is now into its second decade in its Lunar Exploration Program, in which they are first putting robots and then will eventually put humans on the moon’s surface. On April 24, CNSA head Zhang Kejian announced that China would build a scientific research station on the moon’s south pole in the next 10 years.

China’s moon rover, Yutu-2, the rover partner to the Chang’e-4 lander, made history in January 2019 by being the first to land on the far (dark) side of the moon. On May 15, 2019, it was announced that the rover may have found the first pieces lunar mantle material which they hope to bring back to Earth for scientific study with China’s upcoming Chang’e-5 mission to the far side and with its Chang’e-6 mission with samples from the lunar south pole.

The Indian Space Research Organization launched its first deep-space mission, the Chandrayaan-1, in October 2008. The lunar orbiter provided evidence of water’s presence in lunar minerals. The Indian Space Research Organization hopes to launch the Chandrayaan-2 mission, an orbiter with a lander as well as a rover in July 2019. A landing attempt on the moon is scheduled for September 6. If India’s space agency mission is successful, Chandrayaan-2 will be the first mission to softly land on one of the highest areas of the moon.

The Russian space agency, Roscosmos, has a number of robotic landers planned for the 2020s. Not much more is known at this time about Russian intentions in space.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency plans to launch its SLIM mission in 2020 or sometime thereafter to test new landing technologies and touch down near one of the moon’s poles. The agency also hopes to launch their “Resource Prospector” mission to a lunar pole sometime in the 2020s.

The Korea Aerospace Research Institute in South Korea is planning its first lunar mission, the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter but will likely launch no earlier than the end of 2020.

The European Space Agency is endorsing the concept of a “Moon Village” with lunar explorers from a diverse global group of countries, and private enterprises, that agree to coordination and common standards. By the end of 2019, the European Space Agency hopes to finalize a plan for future robotic lunar missions.

SpaceIL, the Israeli nonprofit SpaceIL, Israel is now preparing to build Beresheet 2.0, a followup to their first effort which was launched by SpaceX.

The European Space Agency and other partners in the International Space Station, including the Canadian Space Agency, the Russian Space Agency, and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, have all declared their support for the lunar Gateway concept being championed by NASA. The Gateway will be a small spaceship in orbit around the Moon that will provide access to more of the lunar surface with living quarters for astronauts, a lab for science and research, ports for visiting spacecraft, and more.

German startup PTScientists has, with the approval of the European Space Agency, teamed up with Audi and Vodafone to build lunar landers and rovers and has announced it has entered a long-term agreement with European aerospace firm ArianeGroup, which builds the Ariane rockets which the European Space Agency has used. The firms’ pact has the blessing of the European Space Agency.

A Look At Space Accidents, Risks to the Human Body, and Insurance By Asteroid Moon and Space Resources Attorney Sebastian Gibson

There will be accidents in space. Space is unforgiving. Each time an accident occurs, there will be calls to cease operations until they can be resumed more safely. And with each accident, there will likely be improvements to safety, utilizing what is learned from each disaster as they occur.

One of the biggest problems long-term astronauts and inhabitants in space will face is the effect of space on their bodies. Astronauts have already reported diminished eyesight upon their return to Earth due to the effect a lack of gravity has on one’s bones and tissues. Sending astronauts into deep space on much longer missions will require either some adjustment to the gravity within their spaceships, space stations and modules on low-gravity celestial bodies or there may be a limit to how long a person may remain in space before returning to Earth.

There is also the risk that astronauts and inhabitants on the moon, asteroids, space stations and other planets will face from greater radiation in space, radiation that could be from several times greater to several hundred times greater than what we face on Earth depending on their location. With increased radiation comes a corresponding greater risk of cancer.

There may also be decreases in cognitive ability the longer one spends in space, and psychological problems as well. Adjusting to gravity upon an astronaut’s return to earth also takes time. Breathing in toxic dust may have a harmful effect on one’s lungs, and they may be just two of our human organs that may be adversely effected by long term space travel.

One thing is certain. There will be a great need for medical practitioners in space who in turn will suffer their own health problems.

As one might imagine, many of the accidents which will undoubtedly take place may not be foreseeable until the occur. This is uncharted territory in every sense of the word. The question is, will any of the companies involved be able to purchase insurance for their operations, for the safety of their employees, and for their spacecraft, and if insurance is made available, just how extreme will the cost of premiums for that insurance be?

The Future of Space Law and the Development of Space Resources With the Help of Asteroid Moon and Space Resources Attorney Sebastian Gibson

Soon, the technology to obtain space resources from asteroids, Earth’s moon and other celestial bodies will be put into use. Let us hope that having learned from our mistakes in depleting the Earth’s resources to the detriment of nature, we as a species find a way to develop and use future resources more wisely and along the way take the time to appreciate what we have on Earth as well as what space has to offer for the future of humankind.

Asteroid Moon and Space Resources Attorney Sebastian Gibson

Asteroid Moon and Space Resources Attorney Sebastian Gibson has over 40 years of combined experience in London and California. He is a 12-time Top Lawyer as named by the prestigious Palm Springs Life Magazine where he has offices in the Palm Springs and Palm Desert area as well as in Newport Beach in Orange County.

With a background which includes an analysis of Deep Sea Mining, Business and International Law, Asteroid Moon and Space Resources Attorney Sebastian Gibson is one of the most knowledgeable attorneys available to companies interested in the development and utilization of resources in space. With law degrees in both Great Britain and California, Asteroid Moon and Space Resources Attorney Sebastian Gibson is sought after for his development of new areas of law and his experience as an international attorney which may someday even result in the development of interplanetary law for the benefit of humankind.

As an entertainment attorney as well, Asteroid Moon and Space Resources Attorney Sebastian Gibson consults with film productions and with companies involved with hosting entertainment events throughout the world. He is a published author and an accomplished musician who performed internationally with an Oscar-nominated actress on the stage, on national TV, and who wrote and recorded a musical in London. He is rated a “Superb” lawyer, their highest ranking, by Avvo, which rates attorneys all across the U.S.

Asteroid Moon and Space Resources Attorney Sebastian Gibson has been called “Brilliant” and “A Legend” and has experience practicing in California, in London and elsewhere in the world. If you’d like to retain the services of Space Resources Attorney Sebastian Gibson for your endeavors in space resource development or on film, call his offices at (760) 776-1810 or email Asteroid Moon and Space Resource Attorney Sebastian Gibson at SgibsonEsq@aol.com