Bold steps forward: The investment impact of enacting space resources legislation

Significant attention is now being directed toward the space resources industry in what people are calling the next frontier of mineral exploration. The basic space treaties were proposed and executed at relatively early stages in the development of space exploration and exploitation, and, as such, were drafted to be ambiguous as new technologies were developed. To that end, individual states are beginning to propose domestic legislation to regulate space property rights. To date, the United States, Luxembourg, Japan and the United Arab Emirates have succeeded in enacting such laws, with other countries currently drafting similar legislation.

This paper does not attempt to discuss the suitability of or to interpret domestic law and how it fits within the framework of the basic space treaties; rather, it reflects upon the domestic space property rights legislation that has been enacted and examines the impact that those laws have had upon investment into the space sector of the country in which they were passed.