To infinity and beyond

In 1967, the United States of America, the United Kingdom and the Russian Federation signed the Outer Space Treaty in collaboration with the United Nations. This established international space law for 104 countries by prohibiting the placement of weapons of mass destruction within Earth’s orbit, on the Moon and on any other celestial body. President Lyndon Johnson remarked that this treaty was an “inspiring moment in the history of the human race” because it would prevent the spread of the world’s most powerful weapons beyond our planet. While noting that humanity has “never succeeded in freeing our planet from the implements of war...we can at least keep the virus from spreading” into the infinitude of the universe. The treaty was a monumental achievement not only because it limited the world’s most dangerous nuclear, chemical and biological weapons to Earth, but also because it set the geopolitical framework for the new space economy.

Article II of the treaty states that outer space “is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by other means.” However, as Luxembourg’s Deputy Prime Minister Etienne Schneider notes, “These rules prohibit the appropriation of space and celestial bodies but they do not exclude the appropriation of materials which can be found there...Fishermen own the fish they catch but they do not own the ocean.” Likewise, the natural resources and rare minerals within asteroids and in other celestial bodies extracted by the private sector belongs to those who engineered the excavation. Already, Luxembourg has recognized this emerging market with investments aimed at accelerating the rate of outer space mining.

In turn, it is high time for the world’s largest economy, the United States, to follow suit and invest in the future. In fact, the U.S. has already passed the early stages of expanding our reach further into outer space with a sovereign regulatory and legal framework. On Nov. 25, 2015, President Barack Obama signed the Spurring Private Aerospace Competitiveness and Entrepreneurship Act of 2015, also known as the SPACE Act. This legislation recognizes the property rights of private companies to partake in the commercial exploration of space via legal rights in claiming space resources found on asteroids, comets and other celestial bodies. These resources include metals like gold, platinum, cobalt, palladium and osmium which, upon extraction, could open up trillions of dollars in new markets.

Additionally, asteroid mining can deliver water that can undergo electrolysis to separate into hydrogen and oxygen, which can then be turned into rocket fuel and radiation shields respectively. This brings the possibility of establishing fueling stations on asteroids which would ease interplanetary travel and aid space colonization efforts. Comparatively, instead of a car carrying the maximum amount of fuel it can for a trip from the start of a drive like a rocket or space shuttle does at the beginning of a launch, refueling stations located in different parts of space can enable a continuity of travel like gas stations do today for automobiles. The water found on asteroids would also serve as a bulwark against harmful radiation in space and as a source of hydration which only reinforces asteroid mining as essential for sustainability of human life in the cosmos.

The resulting increased capacity for travel provides an asset in colonizing space. This has been recognized by Elon Musk, the billionaire engineer and entrepreneur, through his company SpaceX. SpaceX has reduced the cost of launching technology into outer space on its Falcon rockets to incentivize companies to pursue space mining. In addition, Musk ambitiously declared at the International Astronautical Congress in September that SpaceX intends to colonize Mars by 2025. Notably, he also said that his vision would require a “public-private partnership” for its successful materialization.

The union of the public and private sectors is a precondition for new ventures into space. Here is where the U.S. has fallen short of our European friends in Luxembourg. In June 2016, Luxembourg announced a $227 million investment in two American space mining companies—Planetary Resources and Deep Space Industries. Planetary Resources is financed by people like Google co-founder Larry Page, Alphabet Inc.’s Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt, film director James Cameron, Virgin’s Richard Branson and billionaire businessman Ross Perot. In 2015, Planetary Resources successfully deployed spacecraft from the International Space Station on a research mission. Deep Space Industries receives $2 billion in investment annually through private investment and has announced its first commercial interplanetary mining mission scheduled for 2017. This public-private partnership has led to the establishment of European headquarters for both companies in Luxembourg, too.

While we haven’t yet invested in asteroid mining, there have been glimmers of hope. NASA has launched missions to learn more about asteroid mining and SpaceX conducts cargo resupply missions to the International Space Station through a $1.6 billion NASA contract. Most importantly, on Sept. 15, the Chairman of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Space, Science and Competitiveness, Senator Ted Cruz, introduced S. 3346, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Transition Authorization Act of 2016 which includes an interesting provision in Title IV, Subtitle C, Sec. 433, “Strategic Framework for Human Spaceflight and Exploration.”

Here, the bill reads, “In developing the strategic framework, the Administration shall consider using public-private, firm fixed-price partnerships, where practicable” and “collaborating with international, academic, and industry partners, when appropriate.” Hopefully, President Obama continues the progress made thus far by signing this bill and subsequently forming appropriate public-private partnerships to bring us deeper into outer space so that humanity can live long and prosper in a shared destiny beyond Earth.