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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."
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."
"They don't give companies ownership of asteroids, after all, only the minerals they extract.."
The treaty:
"outer space is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means OF USE or occupation, or BY ANY OTHER means;"
Space mining is illegal under the treaty we/they signed up to, if you don't like it, negotiate a new treaty.
*However*, these companies are NOT about mining, they are about selling shares in stuff that sounds plausible. They are really just stock scam by space mining companies. Luxembourg wants in on it. In effect its staking a claim in the claim staking business.
Luxembourg has been, at least after its deindustrialization (there was steel industry there) the corporate and finance whore in Europe (next to the City of London, that is). Raking in some profit at the detriment of the others.
And this is the work of... you guess it. Among others, it was Jean Claude Juncker who propelled this transformation. And now he's running around as "Mr. Europa", putting up a serious and concerned face and warning about populisms.
Reminds me of Emperor Nero, crying over burning Rome, in a fire he himself ordered to set.
The supposed "loophole" in the Outer Space Treaty isn't a loophole.
Article VI states: "States Parties to the Treaty shall bear international responsibility for national activities in outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, whether such activities are carried on by governmental agencies or by non-governmental entities, and for assuring that national activities are carried out in conformity with the provisions set forth in the present Treaty."
In effect, while a private company can own a spacecraft, it's the state that's responsible for it so, no, Asteroid Mining PLC won't have legal standing to claim their mined goods.