This isn’t really satisfactory, though, without quantifying it:
So are asteroids celestial bodies like the moon? Or something different? A number of space-law scholars have weighed in recently. The bottom-line argument is, as Andrew Tingkang noted in a Seattle University Law Review article, that if you can move it, it isn’t a celestial body.
We see a similar distinction on Earth between “real” and “personal” property. Real estate is land. One of its chief characteristics is that it stays put. Personal property can be huge—a supertanker or a 747—but it’s movable. The rules relating to real property are different, and usually more stringent, than the rules relating to personal property. Land is accounted for by deeds and registries; for personal property, possession is enough to establish a presumption of ownership.
The biggest asteroids, like Ceres or Vesta, are probably too big to move, so even though they’re smaller than the moon, they might count as celestial bodies. But a 100-meter class-M asteroid is readily movable. It’s not real estate; it’s just a rock.
Anything, including the moon, can be moved. It’s just a matter of degree. When we slammed LCROSS into it a while back, we moved it, though probably not measurably. One clear-cut definition could be if you change the body around which it’s orbiting.
The best way to stop the creation of wealth is to disallow its private ownership.
Absolutely RS. Property is property. Classification to make rules about it is all just legal masterbation. The reason the rules are different is not because it’s some special class of property. The rules are different because using deeds to transfer title on a pocket knife would be ridiculous as is much of their spurious arguments.
You claim by possession, then defend that claim. It’s not that difficult a concept.
I said claim, but buying property also works. When nobody owns it, claiming is the ONLY option.
Hell, a laser pointer “moves” it. Some. Really. No, really. Get a better ruler.
It is perhaps worth keeping in mind that “mining asteroids” and “moving asteroids” are not the same thing. To a science-fiction author, yes, mining asteroids by moving them whole to a giant celestial refinery is easy to describe and really cool to imagine. But I have not seen anyone actually do the math and show that moving entire asteroids is likely to be the most economically viable method of asteroid mining.
The more traditional and cost-effective mining business model, “Go there, identify the most valuable stuff at the site, dig up as much of that stuff as you plan to use, and ship only that stuff back”, works about as well – technically and legaly – on the moon or on an asteroid. And we’ve now got an explicit precedent that says valuable stuff you dug up on the moon belongs to those what dug it up and they can sell it for profit. I would assume that precedent applies to asteroids as well, along with the established international law that other people aren’t allowed to interfere with you while you do so.
This will cease to be satisfactory when we have multiple groups trying to dig up the same stuff in the same place at the same time for reasons that genuinely aren’t about interfering with the other guy. That is, I believe, quite some time in the future, and establishing new regulations now that we won’t need for a long time is only likely to needlessly impede progress now.
If transportation is expensive, ship the steaks, not the whole cow.
To my mind, the question of who owns the asteroid falls to the rule system of the asteroid in question. Once someone is there, they get to make the rule. If two people are there, then they have to decide on the rules.
What we have now is like listening to the Grand Duke of Austria opine on Ohio frontier land laws.
John,
If you move the asteroid it will be yours.
If you break some pieces off of the asteroid (mine it) you basically move them out of their natural position so they are yours.
And BTW this already applies to meteorites, which were asteroids before the reached Earth. When their natural orbit is interrupted by Earth they cease to be “Celestial Bodies” and now are legally part of their impact point on Earth. If you happen to own it, its yours.
Indeed, possession is not 9/10ths of the law. It’s all of the law.
Look, just get out there and use it. Who is going to gainsay you, and what can they do about it?
They can take all your property in their country and prosecute you if you return.
By all means mine those asteroids just be sure you come from or legally relocate to a country that will welcome the proceeds of your mining.
What a tempest in a tea pot.
The principle that once an object is no longer its “natural” position is no longer a Celestial Body and is the property of who ever moved it out of its “natural” position has been established since Apollo.
The Apollo specimens are the property of the U.S. government just as an army Humvee is. That is because by picking them up and bringing them to Earth they are no longer in there natural position and so ceased to be “Celestial Bodies”. Just look the way stolen moon rocks have been handled in court cases. And the same applies to the Russian lunar specimens, a gram of which was auctioned off to a private party years ago. Or the new specimens of space dust Genesis returned to Earth.
In terms of practice once an asteroid’s orbit is changed by an amount greater than measurement or random error, and you are able to demonstrate your action is the cause of the change it will cease to be a Celestial Body and belong to you.
Why do folks continue to make something more complex than the existing law says it is?
And if you don’t believe me just call NASA and ask for one of the samples from the recent Genesis mission arguing that they are Celestial Bodies and belong to all mankind and NASA has no right to hoard them. See the response you get 🙂
Why do folks continue to make something more complex than the existing law says it is?
Because jail house lawyers will always find a loophole. Suppose you hollow out an asteroid to make a ship? Excuse me, Asimov habitat. Then someone comes along and starts mining the surface of your ship (which you haven’t bothered to move yet. You’re still adjusting the furniture.)
That’s when you open up the window on the side, shake your fist, and yell, “Damn kids get off my asteroid!”
You have made improvements to an otherwise unclaimed resource. On that basis you should be able to claim ownership and take necessary steps to protect your investment.
But the way many governments seem to be trending, you might be charged with “theft from the universal commons” and assault for driving off the intruders.
PeterH,
You have been reading too much right wing nonsense. Do you have any examples of government actually doing so or making such claims against anyone? Details please…
Ken,
Article IX of the Outer Space Treaty prohibits such inference with the activities of others in space. You would simply file a complaint with their governing nation which is responsible for their actions under Article IV of the Outer Space Treaty for damages. Which incidentally is why deep space missions will need to eventually be licensed beyond the current level of licensing just for launch and re-entry.
BTW once the asteroid is moved out its natural position you simply request your state of registry to register it as a space object under the Registration Convention clarifying who is responsible for it. In essence by moving it out of its orbit you have “launched” it, which is of course in accordance with the definition that a “Celestial Body” is any natural object still in its natural position – i.e. an object launched into space is no longer in its natural position by definition and no longer a “Celestial Body” under the OST.