MINING THE ASTEROIDS Part 24: REDUCING THE BURDEN OF LAND MINES…

Initially, I started this series because of the 2021 World Science Fiction Convention, DisCON which I WOULD have been attending in person if I felt safe enough to do so in person AND it hadn’t been changed to the week before the Christmas Holidays…HOWEVER, as time passed, I knew that this was a subject I was going to explore because it interests me…

I know EXACTLY what my title SOUNDS like; and while the “hope of all Humanity” is to remove the burden on the planet that mining the surface eight billion of us share, whilst conveniently ignoring the Ocean Floor, the FACT is that Humanity will mine the asteroids for one purpose, and ONE purpose only:

“Then both the partners laughed together—pleasantly and cheerfully, as men who are going to receive money, often do.”

Chapter XXV of THE POSTHUMOUS PAPERS OF THE PICKWICK CLUB
Volume 2 of 2 by Charles Dickens

Actually the MAIN title of the article in the May 8, 2024 issue of the online magazine, UNDARK, is “In the Race for Space Metals, Companies Hope to Cash In”.

There’s been a lot of groundwork been laid by several countries regarding mining in outer space, most of it seems to depend from this statement:

“If fishing in international waters is legal, what about mining asteroids and the moon for water ice and precious metals? Turns out in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) is lawful, as governed by the Outer Space Treaty and Artemis Accords, and embraced as advancing the cause of space exploration. Of interest to NASA and other civil space agencies around the globe, as well as a number of companies and academic organizations, ISRU actually offers lucrative opportunities for the rise of the world’s first trillionaire. So, what laws govern the pursuit of commercial space exploration, and what legal prohibitions or safeguards exist against disputes over resources?”

China, Russia, the US, Japan, Luxemburg, and India have made serious strides in creating a framework for endeavors on the Moon – Outer Space Treaty (see Wikipedia article below).

That’s all fine and good; and like the UN before it, the foundation of and intent of the laws and treaties framed, hammered out and signed are all fine and good. BUT, as of January 4, 2021 (https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/un-peacekeeping-70-years-of-service-sacrifice#:~:text=The%20first%20UN%20peacekeeping%20mission,Israel%20and%20its%20Arab%20neighbours.), the UN’s efforts at keeping the peace have been spotty at the VERY best.

When trillions of dollars/yuan/pounds/yen/euros/francs are at stake, then the politeness of the countries whose currency the world trades on (the notable lack is the Russian rouble. It’s current worth is extremely problematic: 1 rouble = .o1 US dollar…you can do the other computations), then space mining will eventually be worth quintillions of currency units.

The UN has no authority, budget, or strength to control the immense piles – or “rocks” of currency (which equals power). According to Space Law, the asteroids are as “free” as the Old West was for invading Europeans – English, French, Dutch, Portuguese, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and lets not forget Russia!

WHO will NOT be able to control this one (they’ve done SUCH a good job with controlling disease, conflict that enables disease, and providing protection to its own people…).

So who will do the job? It had BETTER be an agency all of the nations respect. It had better be an agency that has a budget to draw on to create methods and policy to not ONLY threaten possible belligerents with, but actually CONTROL belligerents. There is NO ONE AROUND TO CONTROL THE EQUITABLE DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH…nor is there anyone around to make sure one of the companies doesn’t ram or drop a used up asteroid on their base of operations.

There’s also no one to make sure mining companies clean up their orbiting mess of debris…or even to adjudicate differences. In fact, what’s to stop the new asteroid mining turning into an Old West of asteroid lawlessness?

Hmmm…Space Jesse James, here we come!

And WHERE'S the future Sheriff Pat Garrett? (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Garrett)

Today’s Source: In the Race for Space Metals, Companies Hope to Cash In (undark.org) https://undark.org/2024/05/08/asteroid-mining-space-metals/, the current state of Space Law is covered extensively here: https://www.law.uw.edu/news-events/discovery/season-6/the-laws-of-space-mining , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outer_Space_Treaty, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_law#:~:text=Several%20nations%20have%20enacted%20or,Bill%20was%20introduced%20in%202017.
Foundational Resource: (A general Wikipedia post detailing what the authors currently know about asteroid mining: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroid_mining)
Noted Resources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_asteroid_close_approaches_to_Earth, https://www.pharostribune.com/news/local_news/article_7fcd3ea5-3c14-533f-a8d5-9bf629922f34.html, https://www.fool.com/investing/2022/04/29/like-asteroid-mining-be-careful-what-you-wish-for/, https://www.nps.gov/wrbr/learn/historyculture/theroadtothefirstflight.htm, https://hackaday.com/2019/03/27/extraterrestrial-excavation-digging-holes-on-other-worlds/, https://www.planetary.org/space-missions/every-small-worlds-mission
Image: https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/A2D5/production/_114558614_hls-eva-apr2020.jpg