Luxembourg Just Passed A New Asteroid Mining Law (engadget.com)

Remember when NASA visited an asteroid with $10 quintillion worth of minerals? Now the lucrative asteroid-mining industry is being pursued by "the European banking hub with a population not much bigger than Albuquerque's," reports Bloomberg, as low-cost reconnaissance missions are already looking "increasingly feasible." An anonymous reader writes: Last week Luxembourg's parliament unanimously passed an asteroid mining law (which goes into effect Tuesday) "that gives companies ownership of what they extract from the celestial bodies..." according to Engadget. "Luxembourg's law is pretty similar to the one President Obama signed back in 2015 in that it gives mining companies the right to keep their loot. Both of them also take advantage of a loophole in the UN's Outer Space Treaty, which states that nations can't claim and occupy the moon and other celestial bodies. They don't give companies ownership of asteroids, after all, only the minerals they extract.. Unlike the U.S. version, though, a company's major stakeholders don't need to be based in Luxembourg to enjoy its protection -- they only need to have an office in country."

Bloomberg reports that the law "could serve as a model for other small countries hoping to explore asteroids -- and to get a piece of the booming space business," since the tiny country is also offering to buy equity stakes in any companies which relocate to Luxembourg. "Luxembourg's success in attracting these companies should show other small countries that space isn't just for superpowers any more... Competition has made space achievable for many more companies, and for the countries that support them."
For the last few years Luxembourg has begun quietly investing in asteroid mining, including a joint venture with "Deep Space Industries" to build a spacecraft to test asteroid-mining technologies -- while another collaboration with Kleos Space is working on "in-space manufacturing technology."

Comments

Asteroid Mining Mayhem

[mentil]

If $10 Quintillion worth of asteroid minerals were brought down on Wall Street all at once, it would cause a huge crash in mineral value, an explosion of trading volume, and enough upheaval in the commodities market, one could call it destructive! In fact, it might crater the whole concept of commodities trading! That's why the old dinosaurs that run the finance sector are afraid of asteroid mining, it could spell their doom!

Re:Asteroid Mining Mayhem

[Anonymous Coward]

> If $10 Quintillion worth of asteroid minerals were brought down on Wall Street all at once [...]

Gah, I'd *love* to see that happen. I mean physically, not just financially.

Re:Well thank goodness

[FlyHelicopters]

Yes, but Russia is not our enemy, despite what the rich want us to believe.

Sweet

[stealth_finger]

Sweet, so now all you need to do it make a way to get to the asteroids, make a way to extract materials, make a way to process the materials, make a way to store and transport the materials and then either get them back on earth or build a whole load of facilities in orbit all while having aerosmith playing on repeat.

Re:Well thank goodness

[stealth_finger]

If our economy tanks our massive military is coming over there to take your resources and use you as slaves.

Oh no, more broke immigrants heading to Europe's shores? Just what we need.

Re:Bullshit much?

[penandpaper]

or fight each other for it.

Let the space wars commence!