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posted by cmn32480 on Friday November 27 2015, @01:38AM   Printer-friendly
from the space-mining dept.

An event of cosmic proportions occurred on November 18 when the US congress passed the Space Act of 2015 into law. The legislation will give US space firms the rights to own and sell natural resources they mine from bodies in space, including asteroids.

Although the act, passed with bipartisan support, still requires President Obama's signature, it is already the most significant salvo that has been fired in the ideological battle over ownership of the cosmos. It goes against a number of treaties and international customary law which already apply to the entire universe.

The new law is nothing but a classic rendition of the "he who dares wins" philosophy of the Wild West. The act will also allow the private sector to make space innovations without regulatory oversight during an eight-year period and protect spaceflight participants from financial ruin. Surely, this will see private firms begin to incorporate the mining of asteroids into their investment plans.

The act represents a full-frontal attack on settled principles of space law which are based on two basic principles: the right of states to scientific exploration of outer space and its celestial bodies and the prevention of unilateral and unbridled commercial exploitation of outer-space resources. These principles are found in agreements including the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 and the Moon Agreement of 1979.

I learned everything I need to know about asteroid mining from Rip Foster. [Read it at Project Gutenberg. -Ed.]


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by jmorris on Friday November 27 2015, @07:14AM

    by jmorris (4844) on Friday November 27 2015, @07:14AM (#268549)

    Those Treaties are Cold War relics where the Communists (and for all intents and purposes -everyone- was one) wanted to make sure no Capitalists snuck in and made a buck in space. Space was supposed to be a U.N. plaything where they would finally do things right from the beginning and simply never allow any private ownership of not only the means of production but of anything. Screw that noise.

    All of those Treaties were either never signed by the U.S. in the first place or they have exit provisions which we should exercise. If there is ever to be any practical life in space it has to be private industry in the end. We know Communism, Socialism or any of that other crap is and always will be a failure. As I write this sorta on Thanksgiving Day (a little late for my time zone...) we should be remembering the Pilgrims who came all Hippy with their Mayflower Compact and intended to share everything and all that crap.... and darned near starved to death. It was only when they abandoned that foolishness that Capitalism and private property rights produced the bounty they gave thanks for. Space will be no different. If nobody owns anything there will be no productivity and few people out there.

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  • (Score: 2) by turgid on Friday November 27 2015, @10:32AM

    by turgid (4318) Subscriber Badge on Friday November 27 2015, @10:32AM (#268609) Journal

    As a pinko-commie-socialist-fascist-athiest I will sit back and laugh as all the rabid greedy capitalist astro-prospectors lose their shirts and their lives in their hubristic attempts to make a quick buck out of space. After they've Darwinned themselves, things will settled down and civilised people will take over. There will probably be spare gear up there that we can recycle...

    • (Score: 2, Touché) by khallow on Friday November 27 2015, @05:16PM

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Friday November 27 2015, @05:16PM (#268719) Journal

      As a pinko-commie-socialist-fascist-athiest I will sit back and laugh as all the rabid greedy capitalist astro-prospectors lose their shirts and their lives in their hubristic attempts to make a quick buck out of space. After they've Darwinned themselves, things will settled down and civilised people will take over.

      The irony is that the "civilized people" will also be considered rabid, greedy, capitalist astro-prospectors (since who else will be bothered to do low status industrial stuff?). They'll just be the successful ones.