The new golden age of space travel embraces a multi-million dollar business: the exploitation of celestial resources. A 2018 study, cited by the European Space Agency (ESA) in the ESA Space Resources Strategy document, forecasts revenues of between €73,000 and €170,000 million by 2045. In the near future, NASA wants the man and this time woman will set foot on the moon again in 2025. After that, the water of the lunar poles and other minerals will be essential for the permanent bases. Later, the technology could open a new Silk Road for trading in treasures such as helium-3 (the stellar component of nuclear fusion). The United States on one side and Russia and China on the other are leading a race that is outpacing international regulation. Experts warn: Without order, the galaxy can become the Wild West.
The first legal issue in using these resources is whether governments or private companies can take possession of them. International treaties in force (approved during the Cold War) prohibit national appropriation of space, the moon, and other celestial bodies. According to the 1967 Outer Space Treaty (the basic international framework), “they don’t belong to anyone,” explains Víctor Barrio, senior associate at Hogan Lovells.
However, this does not necessarily mean that the exploitation of its natural resources is prohibited. Rafael Harillo, a lawyer specializing in space law, defines the situation as follows: “The sea belongs to everyone and the fish belong to those who catch them.” A vision that is not entirely peaceful. As Efrén Díaz, Head of Technology and Space Law at Bufete Mas y Calvet explains, space is a concern for all of humanity, but we need to see to what extent international treaties allow the patrimonialization of all or part of it. This and its stars, “because the principle of non-appropriation is still in force.”
Problems arise when moving from theory to reality: “And that’s going to happen immediately,” predicts Harillo. Both NASA and China plan to build permanent homes on the Moon, which will require water, minerals (such as regolith for construction), and energy sources such as helium-3. To protect asteroid mining, the best-placed countries have begun to unilaterally legalize it. The United States broke the ice in 2015 with the passage of the so-called Asteroid Act, which allows its nationals to obtain licenses to trade these resources. In its wake, Luxembourg protected these activities by law in 2017. Other countries such as the United Arab Emirates and Japan later joined. Although Spain is a major player in the industry, it lacks a national space law. A handicap that, according to the President of the Spanish Aerospace Law Association (AEDAE), Elisa González, must be solved by the recently created Spanish Space Agency.
Bilateral Agreements
According to Víctor Barrio, the decisive impetus for this more liberal trend came “from the bilateral Artemisa agreements”. [diosa helena de la caza y hermana melliza de Apolo] that NASA has already signed with almost thirty international partners to participate in the next missions to the moon. The pacts, which are a kind of guideline for cooperation in space exploration, provide for the extraction of resources and justify them because they do not constitute “in themselves national appropriation”, according to the expert. Spain was the twenty-fifth country to join the Union last May.
And as it is, Harillo adds, this amicable settlement “adds more will than the 1979 lunar treaty.” This agreement, says Elisa González, has only been ratified by about twenty countries and has left unclear the regime for the exploitation of the resources in the Earth satellite, which the aforementioned instrument considers a common heritage of humanity. The major space powers have fled it because it provides for “equal sharing” of all signatories in the benefits of its use, he explains. “Is this participation fair if there is a state, an organization or a private institution that is risking a lot of capital?” the expert throws off.
The space economy is booming. There are already several pioneering companies making big bets. Some have studied the possibility of mining asteroid resources rich in minerals such as platinum, gold and other precious metals. It happens that these are projects for which we “optimistically” have to wait 20 years, adds Víctor Barrio. What is drawing closer and progressing is the exploitation of the moon, which could begin in the next decade. Among the numerous initiatives listed by the experts, the Green Moon Project stands out, a Spanish company that wants to develop lunar agriculture.
The seed of the cislunar economy raises numerous questions that currently have no clear answers. One of the most intense debates is whether and how to compensate countries where there is no gap in this business. Víctor Barrio advocates introducing a tax on technological development programs that will compensate these nations. A formula that Elisa González rejects: “For years, all of humanity has benefited from the technology developed by spatially active states.”
As a new international standard emerges, Efrén Díaz emphasizes the importance of ensuring responsible and sustainable stewardship of the cosmos, pointing out: “The inadequacy of terrestrial fossil resources can provide a reference point for the exploitation of mineral resources in the be space.” .”
space heritage
As space exploration progresses, locations of historical and scientific interest on other celestial bodies, such as the Moon and Mars, are discovered and reached. For example Tranquility Base, the place where the mythical Apollo 11 mission landed on the moon. The ground still preserved the traces of the first human footprints left by astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin more than half a century ago, as evidenced by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) probe in July 2009. The protection of space heritage, according to Efrén Díaz , attorney at Bufete Mas y Calvet, pose legal challenges when it comes to preserving and protecting these sites and objects “and ensuring that human activities do not irreversibly damage them”.
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