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Canadian, UK Law Professors Condemn Space Mining Provisions of Commercial Space Act (examiner.com)
MarkWhittington writes: The Commercial Space Launch Act, which includes provisions allowing American companies the right to keep resources that they mine in space, was recently signed into law by President Barack Obama. While the act has been hailed as groundbreaking in the United States, the space mining title has gotten an angry reaction overseas. In an article in Science Alert, Gbenga Oduntan, Senior Lecturer in International Commercial Law, University of Kent, condemned the space mining provisions as environmentally risky and a violation of international law. Ram Jakhu, a professor at Canada's McGill University's Institute of air and space law, adds that space mining is a violation of the Outer Space Treaty and should not be allowed.
The US is an Oligarchy who's 'elected' representatives only serve their corporate masters. Any code, law or treaty contrary to a large corporations desires will be dispatched and buried with litigation in the name of profit.
As far as other celestial body travel, the only way got a chance is to make it commercially viable. Take the moon for example; OK we went there 40 years ago, so what? there it sits - no further exportation or examination. On the other hand if there were valuable minerals for harvest, a corporation would be there as soon as ROI provided.