MINING OF SPACE RESOURCES AND THE EQUITABLE SHARING OF SUCH BENEFITS

The mining of resources in space offers humanity a potentially endless source of energy and raw materials. Clean energy can be generated from a fusion reaction using Helium-3 (H3) which exists in great quantities across the surface of the Moon. Rare metals can be harvested from the Moon and asteroids, with a single large asteroid (e.g., 16 Psyche) estimated to contain 100,000 times the current annual wealth of the planet. Mining objects in space will also help end the disruption of many pristine and ecologically fragile areas on Earth including the deep seabed. Space therefore appears to be the final frontier with endless promise for raw materials, human expansion, and prosperity. In contrast to this great potential, the procurement of space resources may be limited due to legal questions that arise around their use and ownership. The Outer Space Treaty of 1967 requires that use and exploration of space shall benefit all nations and shall be the province of all mankind. The Moon Treaty later declared all space resources to be the common heritage of mankind (but this Treaty was never accepted by enough countries). A long 40-year gap occurred in the generation of timely space law which caused nations to unilaterally create national laws to define their own legal interpretation of space activities. A bilateral agreement called the Artemis Accords was created in 2020 and currently has 28 Parties. The Artemis Accords allow space resources to be taken and used by mining operations, as long as the underlying celestial body is not claimed or appropriated. In light of these developments, the current state of the law is analysed in terms of space resource use and exploitation. Additionally, this thesis addresses whether excess fiscal gains from harvesting space resources should be globally shared and what level of economic gain each nation might expect from different benefit sharing regimes