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Glenn Reynolds: Cashing in on the Final Frontier

Obama and Congress just made property rights in space more secure.

Glenn Harlan Reynolds
Artist's rendering of an asteroid.

With all the troubles here on planet Earth, it’s comforting that things are at least looking up for the Final Frontier. In fact, it seems as if President Obama’s legacy could be to have seen more progress in U.S. commercial development of outer space than any other president, something that might surprise him as much as it surprises me.

Last week, we heard about Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin company’s successful launch and landing of a fully reusable spacecraft. But another thing happened that got less attention: Obama signed landmark legislation, the U.S. Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act. It does a number of things, but the most important part is this passage:

"A United States citizen engaged in commercial recovery of an asteroid resource or a space resource under this chapter shall be entitled to any asteroid resource or space resource obtained, including to possess, own, transport, use and sell the asteroid resource or space resource obtained in accordance with applicable law, including the international obligations of the United States."

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On the one hand, it was probably legal for Americans to do this already: The 1967 Outer Space Treaty prohibits "national appropriation" of the moon and other "celestial bodies." It says nothing about private property rights. Although there are some who argue otherwise, it seems pretty clear, as Hofstra law professor Julian Ku recently pointed out, that the Outer Space Treaty doesn’t prohibit private entities, or even governments, from exploiting space resources so long as they don’t claim sovereignty. (Andrew Tingkang has argued, convincingly, that asteroids small enough to move aren’t even "celestial bodies" under the Outer Space Treaty and thus aren’t covered at all, but the new law doesn’t take that position.)

Now, investors don’t have to worry about whether they’ll plow millions (or billions) into a space mining company only to be told later that they broke the law. And there are quite a few companies out there who are interested because the riches on offer are tremendous. Asteroid 3554 Amun is estimated to contain $20 trillion worth of minerals, enough to pay off the U.S. national debt. On a smaller scale, a 79-foot-across asteroid could contain 33,000 tons of extractable metals, including $50 million in platinum. Plus, many asteroids contain large quantities of carbon, oxygen and water, all useful for supporting operations in outer space.

Companies such as Planetary ResourcesDeep Space Industries  are already working on asteroid mining plans. The new law should make it easier for them to raise money and move ahead.

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The solar system abounds in energy and material wealth, and far and away the greatest part of it is somewhere other than Earth. Rather than staying here, and fighting over slices of what’s left, humanity should expand outward, competing peacefully instead of engaging in zero-sum squabbles. We’ve taken a big step in that direction last week.

And that’s important. The existence of a Western frontier did much to shape the American character as optimistic, open and generous because it’s easier to be optimistic, open and generous when you don’t see yourself as limited to what’s already available. A space frontier, I hope, will do the same thing for humanity in general. Looking around at the world today, I’d say it’s about time.

Glenn Harlan Reynolds, a University of Tennessee law professor, is the author of The New School: How the Information Age Will Save American Education from Itself, and a member of USA TODAY's Board of Contributors.

In addition to its own editorials, USA TODAY publishes diverse opinions from outside writers, including our Board of Contributors.To read more columns like this, go to the Opinion front page.

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