US Congress establishes rules for sharing minerals extracted in space

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    Developing the topic of legalizing mining in space, the US Congress passed a new draft law, HR 2262, which gives US citizens the right to own resources they have extracted beyond the borders of planet Earth, as well as other details on commercial space - in particular, support for private space companies up to 2025 of the year.

    Following their strange love of the game with letters and abbreviations, words, congressmen called this legal act “SPACE Act of 2015”, which is the backronym of “Spurring Private Aerospace Competitiveness and Entrepreneurship”, that is, “Stimulation of entrepreneurship and competition in the field of private space exploration ".

    One of the previous laws has already been establishedthat from the point of view of the United States, the owner of the resources extracted in space is the one who extracted them. True, this contradicts the “Space Treaty”, signed by hundreds of countries, including the same USA, which stipulated that space resources belong to all of humanity. But that did not stop the congressmen.

    The new law clarifies the details of the development and mining of minerals from asteroids and other celestial bodies and was supported by representatives of both parties. According to Lamar Smith , a member of the committee on science, space and technology , “this law will allow America to stay at the forefront of aerospace technology, create jobs, reduce obstacles [for developing space resources], promote safety and inspire the next generation of researchers.”

    In addition to resources, the law also mentions legal support for private aerospace companies that will ride space tourists. Due to the novelty of the industry, tourists will not have the right to demand compensation from the mentioned companies in case of any incidents.

    In addition, the law extends the support of the International Space Station until 2024. The law will enter into force after being signed by the US president.

    The extraction of space resources from asteroids is gradually moving from the realm of fantasy to plans for a not-so-distant future. In 2013, NASA planned a mission to launch an apparatus to study the composition of one of the asteroids, which will be held in 2016. The study will primarily be conducted in order to assess the possibility of mining.

    In 2014, two US private companies already received a license from NASA for the development of asteroids. Developments are also being made in the very technique of mining minerals in space - for example, in September it became known about the proposed technology for “drilling” asteroids using solar energy .

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