Asteroid Mining Made Legal, US Citizens May Own Celestial Bodies

[michalrz]

No no no I keep thinking about this.

NATO expanding in the wrong direction. How about claiming Donbas and Crimea and returning it to Ukraine?
I know this is a bit off-topic but I am honestly getting more and more pissed as I think about this. Don't get me wrong, I mean no disrespect to Americans. Just the collective governments of this blue planet.
"Turkish F16 interceptors shoot down a Russian Su 23 bomber doing who knows what near the border. President Obama has firmly stated that Turkey is a NATO country and he will literally CLAIM THE SKY around Putin's house"
"France still ponders if they should sell military gear to Russia to be used against itself and its own allies"
"Poland does literally nothing but chase the Russian bomber missions around over the Baltic, wasting precious flight time and fuel without having the balls to place a stern radar lock".
"Putin, shirtless, takes over the North and South Poles with his doppleganger. In response, the European Parliament boooos Putin and calls him a poopoohead"
"US National Guard placing engines along the US coast line and prepares to embark upon a journey to the Stars"
"Keir Dullea appears on everyone's plasma tv and says: ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS - EXCEPT EUROPA. ATTEMPT NO LANDING THERE. THERE ARE SIGNS FOR FUCKS SAKE"
As Sinead O'Connor said while ripping apart the gold-sporting baller that was John Paul 2 (the sequel) once said: "Fight the real enemy".

 

[raz-0]

also, what about other countries. A US company registers an asteroid as theirs, but the Russians get their first.
Asteroid owner: Hey! I claimed that rock. Its mine!
Russians: We got there first and we do not recognize your county's act.

Could this lead to a war?

Did you read the article?

You get there first, you can take what you want. You don't own anything but what you extract.

People are criticizing it, but from what I can tell, it more or less implements the kind of lawless squatting that ignores treaties for squatting on land as ice recedes in places that have been agreed to be exempt from such things.

So long as they don't try to land in other countries' territory, I think the odds of war are pretty low.

 

[kbrickley]

Did you read the article?

You get there first, you can take what you want. You don't own anything but what you extract.

People are criticizing it, but from what I can tell, it more or less implements the kind of lawless squatting that ignores treaties for squatting on land as ice recedes in places that have been agreed to be exempt from such things.

So long as they don't try to land in other countries' territory, I think the odds of war are pretty low.

I agree ... although not perfect it clarifies one thing that in the USA markets at a minimum you would be able to legally sell all the booty you acquired in space ... they still need some sort of international law/treaty to sort out competing claims from other country's businesses but I think this is a reasonable first step if they want to continue supporting privatization of space exploration

 

[lcpiper]

also, what about other countries. A US company registers an asteroid as theirs, but the Russians get their first.
Asteroid owner: Hey! I claimed that rock. Its mine!
Russians: We got there first and we do not recognize your county's act.

Could this lead to a war?

It has here on Earth, why not elsewhere. Countries are still fighting over little islands and stuff.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liancourt_Rocks

Both Japan and Korea claim these little rocks but the real thing they want is the 12 miles or so that surrounds the rocks for the fishing rights.

 

[kbrickley]

also, what about other countries. A US company registers an asteroid as theirs, but the Russians get their first.
Asteroid owner: Hey! I claimed that rock. Its mine!
Russians: We got there first and we do not recognize your county's act.

Could this lead to a war?

Looking at other articles the only potential issue is proximity of competing companies ... since countries cannot own territory in space under existing treaties and this USA law doesn't allow ownership of the territory but ownership of the resources I don't see a war element coming into play

that said, I would expect other countries to change their laws and hopefully some international acknowledgement of the limits of possession (if you build your mining platform, how large is the radius of non-interference with your resource collection ... could a competing company build a platform right next to yours, etc)

 

[erexx]

This removes current draconian laws restricting any space mining while paving the way for NASA to become the first (maybe) to capture a rock and bring it back to earth MEO as legal US mining property.
The US will be the only country in the world with a rocket capable of these missions next year.
The SLS is America's new space vehicle.
It will be the biggest rocket ever created and the only vehicle capable of returning to the moon and travel beyond.