A Nascent Regime for Space Resources Three Pathways to Governance

Abstract

This chapter describes and assesses the prospects of a nascent international regime to govern the exploitation of natural resources found on celestial bodies, characterising how international public and private actors currently envision, propose, and create rules in this area. With a focus on lunar and asteroidal resources, this chapter introduces space resource governance and develops three main arguments. First, several actors have already begun articulating and codifying national and international principles and rules to govern space resources. These steps mark the start of a regime-building process that differs significantly from the processes that created the Outer Space Treaty and the Moon Treaty, the two most relevant comparators. Secondly, the diverse stakeholders involved in these rulemaking processes present distinct and sometimes clashing perspectives. The points of contention are likely to complicate the creation of a single global regime encompassing commercial and state-led resource exploitation in space. Third, given these differences, an international regime to govern space resources could develop through several distinct pathways within the next 30 or so years. These each present advantages for some actors and interests over others. Three possible pathways present distinct implications for government and industry actors and other stakeholders.

Department(s)

History and Political Science

International Standard Book Number (ISBN)

978-104027192-6;978-103237879-4

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2025 Taylor and Francis, Taylor and Francis Group; Routledge, All rights reserved.

Publication Date

30 Dec 2024

Link to Full Text

Share

 
COinS