The document discusses the possibility and challenges of asteroid mining. It notes that while the Outer Space Treaty prohibits national claims of sovereignty over celestial bodies, it does not explicitly prohibit private ownership of resources extracted from asteroids. Several companies are developing plans to prospect and mine near-Earth asteroids for valuable metals. However, legal issues around property rights in outer space remain unresolved. Overall, asteroid mining remains speculative and high-risk, though it could become economically viable if in-space resource utilization technologies advance sufficiently.

1. Asteroid Mining Gold Rush or Going Bust
A CPD Talk for William Sturges LLP
7th October 2016

3. Lunar Rock

4. The Metorite

5. History
• NWA 4881 A single 606 gram stone was found in 2005 in the Sahara
Desert . It was purchased by Stefan Ralew in January 2007 from a
dealer in Quarzazate, Morocco . It was classified as a feldspathic
granulitic breccia, similar samples of which had been recovered at
most Apollo lunar highland sites.

6. Mars

7. Certificate

8. History
• Northwest Africa 6710 (NWA 6710)
• History: A stone found in Mali was purchased in March 2011 by
Stefan Ralew from a Moroccan dealer in Erfoud.
• Classification: Martian meteorite (Shergottite)
• Geochemistry: Olivine phenocrysts

9. Ownership of the Rocks
• My ownership of the two rocks would be recognised and enforceable
by the state.
• I can establish a legal title to the rocks by tracing how the rocks were
acquired and how the ownership passed to me .
• If my rocks were taken from me, I can prove my title to them and
enforce my ownership though the court.
• The rocks are here on earth and in my possession.
• What would be the position with rocks on the moon or any where
else in space?

10. Ownership and Law
• In 17th Century natural Law theorists such as Hugo Grotius and John
Locke argued that property rights exist by virtue of human nature but
only have legal force when they are recognised by a sovereign
government
• The question is how far does the sovereignty of state extend and how
far can legal ownership extend?

11. Unlimited Ownership
• Originally if it was thought that national sovereignty and ownership
of land included the earth below and the air space above . “Cuius est
Solum, eius est usque ad coelum et ad inferos”
• “Air above and Ground below” as formulated by William Blackstone
in his Commentaries on the Laws Of England (1766)
• However Bernstein of Leigh V Skyviews & General Ltd [1978}, 1 GB
479 held rights of Land owner extend only to a height necessary for
ordinary use and enjoyment of land

12. Civil Aviation Act 1982
• Section 76 (1) provides no there is no action in respect of trespass
by reason only of the flight of an aircraft over any property at height
provided the circumstances of the flight are reasonable and there
has not been dangerous flying as described in section 81 of the Act.

13. Infrastructure Act 2015
• Limitation of Ownership of “Ground Below”
• Section 43 of the Infrastructure Act 2015 gives a right to use deep-
level land in any way for the purposes of exploiting petroleum or deep
geothermal energy.
• Deep-level land is any land at a depth of at least 300 metres below
surface level which is landward
• The definition of Landward is in The Petroleum Licensing (Exploration
and Production) (Landward Areas) Regulations 2014 and shown by
lines drawn in accordance with Schedule 1 of the Regulations

14. Space Race and National Sovereignty
• The Space Race meant it was possible to over fly other nations
territory without any means at that time of preventing the over
flights. This was potentially a breach of National Sovereignty though
little at the time could be done to prevent such overflights. However
there was also an advantage to both sides in the cold war since the
overflights meant that they could keep an eye on the other side.

15. Space Commons
• The idea developed that no one would claim sovereignty over space.
• This principle was enshrined in the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 which
provided that the exploration and use of outer space, including the
moon and other celestial bodies, shall be carried out for the benefit
and in the interests of all countries, irrespective of their degree of
economic or scientific development, and shall be the province of all
mankind.
• It has been ratified by 102 countries including all the space faring
nations

16. Provisions of the Treaty
• Article I provides for free access to space
• Article II provides space is not subject to national appropriation or claims of sovereignty
• Article III prohibits the placing of nuclear weapons or or any other kinds of weapons of
mass destruction.
• Article VI requires that the activities of non-governmental entities in outer space,, shall
require authorization and continuing supervision by the appropriate State Party to the
Treaty.
• Article VII makes a state liable for damage caused by its space exploration activities
• Article VIII provides that nation states retain jurisdiction and ownership of objects they
have sent into space.
• Article XI provides that studies of outer space so as to avoid harmful contamination and
to avoid adverse changes in the environment of Earth

17. Individual ownership of space.
• There is nothing in the Outer Space Treaty which prohibits individual
ownership of property in space.
• A second Treaty the International Moon Treaty does prohibit this in
Article 11 but this treaty has only been ratified by 15 States
• Some entrepreneurs have argued that there is nothing to stop
individual ownership of land on the moon.
• Dennis Hope filed a claim for the whole of the Moon with the United
Nations and “sells” plot of land on the Moon.

18. A Lunar Title Deed

19. Validity of Lunar Title Deeds
• The lunar title deed is unlikely to have an validity as the person
issuing the “deed” does not have any control of the land in question
nor any means of enforcing his control of the land.
• There is no occupation of the land so there is no corporate possession
or corpus possidendi.
• It is unlikely that persons holding lunar title deeds will ever visit or
occupy the land for which they hold title deeds for.

20. Space X Falcon 9

21. Cutting the Cost of Access to Space by reusing
Rockets

22. Falcon Heavy

23. Falcon Heavy
• Privately Built Rocket
• Constructed by Space X a private company founded in 2002
• Due to fly in September 2016
• Has the ability to take space craft to the Moon and asteroids
• Possible for Private Companies to go to Moon or asteroids to
land/mine materials
• Smaller version of the rocket Falcon 9 also capable of launching
small payloads to the Moon.

24. Space Act 2015
Spurring Private Aerospace Competitiveness and
Entrepreneurship Act of 2015.
• This is an act of the United States of America
• It started as a bill in the House of Representatives H.R.2262 and a
similar bill was passed by The Senate.
• The Bills were reconciled and the Bill was signed into Law by
President Obama on 25th November 2015
• It provides for the regulation of private space flight

25. Space Act 2015
• The Act provides that any asteroid resources obtained in outer space are the
property of the entity that obtained them, which shall be entitled to all property
rights to them, consistent with applicable federal law and existing international
obligations.
• Not clear how this is compatible with Outer Space Treaty
• The law asks the President to submit to the U.S. Congress, within six months of
the law’s enactment, a detailed report on how it will be implemented, and that
only then will the full import of the law become clear.
• One possible way around the apparent ban on outer space resource ownership
would be to assert that the exploitation of resources on international territory,
such as the moon, does not constitute “national appropriation” of the territory,
any more than commercial activity in international waters such as fishing implies
a claim to ownership of the oceans.

26. Luxembourg
5th June 2016 the tiny European nation of Luxembourg announced that it would open a 200 million Euro ($227M U.S.) fund to
entice companies focused on mining asteroids to locate there. Luxembourg’s economy minister said that the fund’s budget
could expand if needed, and that it is aimed at making the country, which is about the size of the Dallas metro area, a global
leader in space.
Previously in February 3, 2016 – The Luxembourg Government announced a series of measures to position Luxembourg as a
European hub in the exploration and use of space resources. Amongst the key steps undertaken, as part of
the spaceresources.lu initiative, will be the development of a legal and regulatory framework confirming certainty about the
future ownership of minerals extracted in space from Near Earth Objects (NEO’s) such as asteroids.
The Luxembourg Government forged 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.
Striving for an international legal and regulatory framework
The new law will be based on the findings of a study on legal and regulatory aspects for the utilization of space resources
conducted by the University of Luxembourg – in cooperation with renowned space law experts in the fields of international
space law and policy. The comprehensive legislation is expected to be effective 2017 and will guarantee operators the right to
resources harvested in outer space in accordance with international law. Space resource-dedicated licenses will be issued
under the new law, and government supervision of the activities of operators and regulating their rights and obligations will
be ensured by Luxembourg in accordance with the Outer Space Treaty.

27. Not Clear what the Way Forwards is for Space
Resources
• The Moon Treaty 1979 prosed that requires all resource extraction
and allocation be made by an international regime.
• But it would seem very unlikely at the present time that the Space
faring powers would agree to such a regime so probably exploitation
of space resources will take place will take place by private companies
such as there is a commercial market for meteorites with no clear way
of resolving conflicting claims to be entitled to mine a particular site-
Robot Wars in Space

28. Property on Moon owned by a private
individual- Lunokhod 2

29. Tracks on the Moon

30. Landed by Soviet Union in 1973
• The craft which remained the property of the Soviet Union (Article
VIII of Outer Space Treaty was sold at a New York auction in
December 1993 .
• It was sold for $68,500 to computer gaming entrepreneur and
astronaut's son Richard Garriott who on 12th October 12, 2008, was
launched in Soyuz TMA-13 to the International Space Station as a self-
funded private astronaut.
• In a 2001 interview with Computer Games Magazine as a private
individual he claimed the moon as only private owner of an object on
a foreign celestial body.

31. Google Lunar XPRIZE
Created in 2007, the mission of the Google Lunar XPRIZE is to
incentivize space entrepreneurs to create a new era of
affordable access to the Moon and beyond.
The competition’s $30 million prize purse will be awarded to
teams who are able to land a privately funded rover on the
moon, travel 500 meters, and transmit back high definition
video and images.
16 Teams still in the Competition.
One entry by an Israeli private team SpaceIL has signed the
first launch contract with Space X. A second team Moon
Express has also signed a launch contract.

32. 7th October 2015 Israeli X Prize Team
Announces Launch Contract for Lunar Mission

33. Asteroid Mining

34. Near Earth Asteroids
1) Not far from Earth Some pass with in Moon’s Orbit. Energy required
to reach not much greater than to reach Low Earth Orbit.
2) Over 10,000 including over 875 which are more than a Kilometre in
size.
3) Three types of interest C-type, S-type, and M-type asteroids:

35. Types of Asteroids
C-type asteroids have a high abundance of water which is not currently of use for
mining but could be used in an exploration effort beyond the asteroid. Mission
costs could be reduced by using the available water from the asteroid. C-type
asteroids also have a lot of organic carbon, phosphorus, and other key
ingredients for fertilizer which could be used to grow food.
S-type asteroids carry little water but look more attractive because they contain
numerous metals including: nickel, cobalt and more valuable metals such as
gold, platinum and rhodium. A small 10-meter S-type asteroid contains about
650,000 kg (1,433,000 lb) of metal with 50 kg (110 lb) in the form of rare metals
like platinum and gold.
M-type asteroids are rare but contain up to 10 times more metal than S-types.
Platinum price currently £23,000 a kilo.

36. Companies Currently Looking at Asteroid Mining
1) Planetary Resources, Inc.
Founded in 2006. Backed by Google chief executive Larry Page and its executive
chairman Eric Schmidt and James Cameron. Currently developing an Arkyd Series
100 satellite which is a small space telescope to find, analyse, and see what
resources are available on nearby asteroids. It plans to follow this up with an Arkyd
Series 200 (The Interceptor) Satellite that would actually land on the asteroid to get
a closer analysis of the available resources. It is proposing to follow this with an
Arkyd Series 300 (Rendezvous Prospector) Satellite developed for research and
finding resources deeper in space.[ It is also planning to create a fuel depot in
space by 2020 by using water from asteroids, splitting it to liquid oxygen and liquid
hydrogen for rocket fuel. From there, it could be shipped to Earth orbit for
refuelling commercial satellites or spacecraft

37. Deep Space Industries
It was founded in 2013. It is planning to send a 25 kg (55 lb) satellite the FireFly,
which is designed to visit asteroids and do a mineral survey, in advance of
mining. 3] DSI's second planned satellite, known as the DragonFly, is predicted by
the company to launch starting in 2018 to bring up to 150 kilograms (330 lb) of
asteroid material to the surface of Earth. A third design was proposed in 2014: a
DSI "mothership " that could carry up to a dozen nanosats to beyond Earth
orbits. This larger craft would be approximately 0.91 m × 0.46 m (3 ft × 1.5 ft)
and mass about 150 kilograms (330 lb). The smaller probe sats that could be
carried would be approximately 15 cm (6 in) cubes.
DSI plans Prospector-1™ which will fly to and rendezvous with a near-Earth
asteroid, and investigate the object to determine its value as a source of space
resources.

38. Targets
Asteroid Est. Value ($) Est. Profit ($) Δv (km/s) Composition
Ryugu 95 billion 35 billion 4.663
Nickel, iron, cobalt, water,
nitrogen, hydrogen, ammonia
1989 ML 14 billion 4 billion 4.888 Nickel, iron, cobalt
Nereus 5 billion 1 billion 4.986 Nickel, iron, cobalt
Didymos 84 billion 22 billion 5.162 Nickel, iron, cobalt
2011
UW158
8 billion 2 billion 5.187 Platinum, nickel, iron, cobalt
Anteros 5570 billion 1250 billion 5.439
magnesium silicate, aluminum,
iron silicate
2001
CC21
147 billion 30 billion 5.636
magnesium silicate, aluminum,
iron silicate
1992 TC 84 billion 17 billion 5.647 Nickel, iron, cobalt
2001
SG10
4 billion 0.6 billion 5.880 Nickel, iron, cobalt
2002
DO3
0.3 billion 0.06 billion 5.894 Nickel, iron, cobalt

39. NASA Mission to Bennu
Launched Sept 2016 . It is going to Bennu. It is the The Origins, Spectral Interpretation,
Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx). It will take 3 years to
reach Bennu which is around 1,900 feet long - roughly the size of five football fields.
NASA chose Bennu for its Earth-like orbit, it has a low eccentricity and inclination.
OSIRIS-REx will scrape more than two ounces of material in 2019, and the sample will
be brought back to Earth in a heat-shielded capsule in 2023. The mission - excluding
the launch vehicle - will cost $800 million.

40. Ian Crawford, a planetary scientist at Birkbeck, University of
London, said some asteroids are made of highly valuable
materials that are in growing demand by industry. "The time
may come when the rising cost of these materials on Earth, due
to dwindling availability and greater demand, makes the price of
mining them from asteroids competitive. In principle, mining
asteroidal material could become economical within a few
decades," he said.
Building an industry that specialises in asteroid interception and
mining might serve us well in the future, should a lump of space
rock be spotted on a collision course with Earth. "The
infrastructure that helps us mine asteroids could help us to
divert any incoming asteroids too," Crawford said.

41. Elon Musk Plans for Mars

42. CPD Questions
1) Can a nation claim sovereignty over a celestial body?
2) Can an individual own property in Outer Space?
3) Can Asteroid Mining be lawful?
4) What do we tell our clients about Asteroid Mining?
5) Would we advise our clients to invest either directly or indirectly in
Asteroid Mining?