Luxembourg Wants To Be A Leader In Space Resource Utilization
SpaceResources.lu: New space law to provide framework for space resource utilization, Luxembourg Ministry of the Economy
“The Luxembourg Government forges ahead with the SpaceResources.lu initiative by presenting an overall strategy to be implemented progressively for the exploration and commercial utilization of resources from Near Earth Objects (NEOs), such as asteroids. Amongst the key actions undertaken is the establishment of an appropriate legal and regulatory framework for space resource utilization activities to provide private companies and investors with a secure legal environment. … Dr. Simon “Pete” Worden said: “Perhaps the most important aspect of Luxembourg’s spaceresources.lu initiative is the excitement it is generating across the world – particularly young scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs. Everywhere I go I hear young people ask about these ideas. Recently, entrepreneurs from Poland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Colombia and Mexico contacted me to ask how they can get involved. I come from Silicon Valley – but I’m convinced that the Silicon Valley for space resources – and gateway to an unlimited future of resources for humanity, will be here in Luxembourg.”
– Can Congress Authorize Mining On Asteroids?, earlier post
– Americans Can Now Legally Mine Asteroids, earlier post
It will be interesting to see how this develops given that the two other members of their economic union, Benelux, are members of the Moon Treaty.
As far as I can tell from the wikipedia entry (that great source of all possibly, but not necessarily, accurate information) both the Benelux council and Luxembourg would have have to pass something before that matters. The Netherlands and Belgium can’t unilaterally commit Luxembourg to any treaty they happen to sign.
But this does bring up an interesting question. What’s the legal status of a non-US spacecraft launched from the United States. Is US government approval and treaty compliance necessary, since we would technically be the launching nation, or is it solely the responsibility of the nation owning it (or where the owning company is located)?
In order to receive a commercial launch license it must be in compliance with U.S. law and treaties. Once in orbit it would be under the laws of the nation where the entity that owns it is located. This is well established with communication satellites and Luxembourg has become something of a flag of convenience for several due to its tax laws.
Could we be looking at the development of a space “Flag of convenience” here? Luxembourg does not, after all have the most active space program of it’s own, but if it allows space mining and an entity was to launch under it’s charter… Say does anyone know if SpaceX has plans to build a launch site at Kourou? As an EU and ESA member I believe that Luxembourg would be entitled to sponsor launches from there without restrictions. No need to go through NASA and State Department approvals. Hmmm.
I’m not sure if SpaceX would want to launch from Kourou. It would technically be exporting missile technology to France. You wouldn’t get the State Department out of the loop that way.
But, yes, it certainly looks like Luxembourg is trying to become a flag of convenience.
Luxembourg appears to be following the same strategy it has used for comsats, that of being a tax haven to attract firms.
It will be interesting to see if the law it passes mirrors the Space Resources Act of 2015 the U.S. passed or takes a different route.
On the contrary. A mining claim, to be valid must be registered and recognized someplace in order to have any chance to bring the minerals back to Earth. Since there is no self-sustaining infrastructure in space, any company mining or extracting minerals will have to have a legitimate government backing/corporate registration in order to have offices, administrative complexes, etc. here on earth free of interference by all levels of governments from the county sheriff all the way to the UN world court. Thus chartering your flights under Luxembourg or registering as a Luxembourg corporation would provide a governance framework you could point to to avoid such harassment, just as shipping companies register their freight ships under Panamanian colors on a regular basis. (See https://www.hg.org/article…. for explanations of flags of convenience) As for Luxembourg being an independent country I refer you to the various treaties of the European Union. (http://europa.eu/eu-law/dec… I believe you will find there are no such thing as “Independent” countries in it, hence the current “Brexit” debate. And as for God-given rights. That concept exists only in the Declaration of Independence of the United States. A document of high ideals that has exactly ZERO legal standing anywhere. The Constitution of the United States uses no such terms, and neither the Constitution or the Declaration apply outside the Territory of the US. Which Luxembourg is, the last time I checked.
My natural rights apply everywhere. All you can do is try to take them away. In addition, those rights are recognized and affirmed in the Bill of Rights in the US Constitution.
You don’t need a mining claim to mine. Simple possession of space resources confers ownership on them if you are the entity that first recovered them from a Celestial Body. The legal literature from the 1960’s on the OST basically agreed on that.
So there is no need to register any claims. The only thing that needs to be registered is your equipment (spacecraft, rover, etc) location and its under the requirements of the OST and Registration Convention.
Space law is different than Earth law since their is the no sovereignty clause (Article 2 of the OST).
More importantly France and by implication French Guyana are signatories to the Moon Treaty. Another signatory to the Moon Treaty that is not often discussed is Mexico and in particular what relationship that might have to Spacex launches from Boca Chica. Most reports I have seen seem to indicate that due to the proximity of the border some level of Mexican government cooperation will be required to safely facility launches from Boca Chica and more importantly to obtain FAA launch approval.
In fact, there is no “by implication”. French Guyana is a department of France, not a colony or territory. It’s status within the French Republic is basically the same as Hawaii’s status within United States.
Under customary international law and the 1969 Treaty Convention a nation is only obligated to abide by a treaty if it ratified it. France never ratified the treaty, their Parliament refused to do so, and so its not under the Moon Treaty.
Mexico is a Moon Treaty nation but has no authority over launches out of Boca Chica. The issue there is only related to security, making sure there are no boats in the region or individuals near the border. But its another reason that was a poor location to select for a launch site.
The original South Texas site I did some work on for StarBooster about 15 years ago was further north, south of Port Mansfield. It was away from the border and from any nearby homes. Also, since it was not on a river delta the soil was much better for construction of the pad.
I wondered about the selection criteria for that Boca Chica site as well. The latitude is propitious for sure but there must be other reasons that over-come the reasons you’ve listed, among others.
Pilings solve the soil issue but they are really pricey.
That’s what I’m not sure about. This involves the launch service provider, an American company. Does that mean the State Department is involved because the _launch_ could produce a hazard or interfere with someone else?
Where do see the State Dept. “kill your project..that’s what they are doing to Moon Expires?”
But it does have sovereignty over the U.S. owned launch vehicle being used. As long as it is attached to the U.S. rocket and the U.S. rocket is in control of its actions the U.S. will be liable for it.
Once the Luxembourg payload (satellite) is separated it may do whatever Luxembourg allows because it is under Luxembourg law and Luxembourg will have the full liability for its actions.
The ideal situation would be for Luxembourg to write a law that mirrors the Space Resource Act of 2015 the U.S. passed. Then it would be nice if it argued with the Netherlands and Belgium, the other members of Benelux, that it would be in their best interests to withdraw from the Moon Treaty. The Netherlands has another motive to withdraw, namely it would make it easier for Mars One to move forward with its plans for Mars.
Under current Moon Treaty obligations the Netherlands would need to hold a conference with the other Moon Treaty nations to create a Mars Regime to govern the activities of Mars One, a Netherlands nonprofit. Likely this action would result in Mars One leaving the Netherlands for a non-Moon Treaty nation where licensing is easier.
Again it will be interesting to see how this develops.
It would be easy to keep the matter in court, at least. Just upgrade the claim marker. With a simple but sensitive instrument and a radio, you could claim to be making long-term measurements which would be compromised by any other spacecraft landing within tens or hundreds of kilometers. Studies of the exosphere, dust environment or seismology (internal structure from signals generated by meteor impacts) come to mind. That might not stand up in court, but some good lawyers could drag things out for a few years.
Independence? From what? Is any sort of regulation reasonable, or defensible?
Would it be your vision that any person entity could launch anything from anywhere, and could lay claim to anything in the solar system actually reachable?
Just curious.
pfft, so this was Worden’s “dream” when he retired?
The non-interference area for a marker might be quite small. That’s not what I was suggesting. Without too much thought, I could come up with three scientific experiments which would be interfered with by anything landing within tens of kilometers. Possibly anywhere on the same asteroid. Note that one Apollo landing on the Moon is estimated to have more than doubled the global atmosphere, if only briefly. That says more about how tenuous the lunar atmosphere is, than anything else. But still. Add such an experiment to the marker. If someone else plans to land, take them to court for interfering with the experiment, not the marker. The court might rule against you, but that would delay the competition. Possibly by a few years if you hire some good lawyers.