Space economy takes off: Mining asteroids becomes easier with legal bill

The space economy has reached a watershed moment. A new legal bill in the US, called the Asteroids Act, would allow companies to mine asteroids for precious resources which they could call their own.

 

Asteroids are host to a whole range of materials that are important for sustaining lives and lifestyles, from the essentials like water to the useful like iron and titanium. But the mined resources wouldn't be brought back down to Earth – they would be used to feed astronauts and build technologies in space while cutting out the costly process of transporting the goods from Earth. 

 

Water, which is abundant on the rocky planetoids, holds particular promise. As well as hydrating life forms, it can shield people from the harmful effects of radiation and be used as fuel for spacecraft. 

 

Some companies have already begun to invest in asteroid mining, recognising the benefits that the practice could offer long term. These include Planetary Resources and Deep Space Industries.

 

But asteroid-mining companies are in their infancy, and many more established companies have been reluctant to get involved. The problem lies in the lack of any legal guarantee that they will have the rights to the resources they mine, because ownership of celestial objects or the materials taken from them is still a very grey area. 

 

The new legal bill would provide a solution to this and help drive the fledgling asteroid mining industry forward. If approved, The American Space Technology for Exploring Resource Opportunities In Deep Space Act, shortened to the Asteroid Act for ease, would allow companies to mine while feeling safe in the knowledge that what they find is theirs.

 

The bill explicitly says that mined resources belong to "the entity that obtained such resources,” while protecting the company's asteroid-based activities from “harmful interference”. Although the exact meaning of “harmful interference” is not defined, it is thought that this refers to other companies trying to cause harm to operations. 

 

Bill Posey, who was involved in creating the bill, told the Wall Street Journal: "This bill is a major step in developing the legal framework necessary for commercial space to move forward with asteroid mining expeditions.”

 

If the Act is passed, there could be repercussions for space ownership beyond just asteroids. Companies could start to apply for the rights to minerals on other bodies such as the moon and Mars, according to the WSJ.