{"id":1519,"date":"2018-08-16T11:16:43","date_gmt":"2018-08-16T15:16:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/groundbasedspacematters.com\/?p=1519"},"modified":"2018-08-16T11:16:43","modified_gmt":"2018-08-16T15:16:43","slug":"a-tricky-dutch-artist-congress-and-space-mining","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/groundbasedspacematters.com\/index.php\/2018\/08\/16\/a-tricky-dutch-artist-congress-and-space-mining\/","title":{"rendered":"A Tricky Dutch Artist, Congress, and Space Mining"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"At some point in our lives many of us have seen Dutch artist M.C. Escher’s stairs that go around and around and keep going up when they should be going down.\u00a0 The picture to the right is also uncanny.\u00a0 Do you see blue birds or white birds?\u00a0 It’s possible to see both, but not always at the same time.\u00a0 Scan your eyes left to right to see the white birds.\u00a0 Scan the other way to see the blue.<\/p>\n

A provision in a 2015 law provides just as much uncertainty about what we’re looking at.\u00a0 Are asteroid miners the only new private space operators who must wait on Congressional action to operate in space?\u00a0 Or, did Congress merely tell the Executive Branch to go promote mining?<\/p>\n

The U.S. Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act of 2015<\/strong><\/a> states, in the portion of interest, 51 U.S.C 51302:<\/p>\n

\n
The President, acting through appropriate<\/div>\n
Federal agencies, shall\u2014<\/div>\n
***<\/div>\n
\n

\u2018\u2018(3) promote the right of United States citizens to engage in commercial exploration for and commercial recovery of space resources free from harmful interference, in accordance with the international obligations of the United States and subject to authorization and continuing supervision by the Federal Government.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The second part of this provision asks the President to prepare a report on what might be necessary under international law for government oversight of space mining.<\/p>\n

\n

We know that a couple of years ago the State Department’s legal adviser thought the provision meant that miners could only mine in space if there was a federal agency to approve the activity.\u00a0 This is because the Outer Space Treaty requires that countries who signed the treaty have to authorize and continuously supervise the acts of their nationals in outer space.\u00a0 Ignoring U.S. law on non-self-executing treaties<\/strong><\/a>, many, including the State Department, believe that miners may not mine without federal approval.\u00a0 The State Department’s legal adviser said<\/strong><\/a>:<\/p>\n

Rather than abrogating the United States\u2019 international obligations, the Space Resource Utilization Act affirms that space resource utilization activities are subject to the United States\u2019 international obligations. By its terms, the Act sanctions space resource utilization only \u201cin manners consistent with the international obligations of the United States.\u201d Similarly, the Act only recognizes rights in resources \u201cobtained in accordance with applicable law, including the international obligations of the United States.\u201d The Act also recognizes that non-governmental space resource utilization activities are \u201csubject to authorization and continuing supervision by the Federal Government.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In other words, the legal adviser in the previous administration believed that asteroid miners may mine only as long as they are authorized and supervised in accordance with U.S. international obligations.<\/p>\n

A reading that requires a less artful selection of quotes results in a different interpretation.\u00a0 In a more straightforward reading we see that Congress told the President to promote something subject to certain terms and conditions.\u00a0 The terms and conditions are vague, but the direction is clear:\u00a0 the President is supposed to promote U.S. citizens’ rights in the commercial exploration for and recovery of space resources.\u00a0 He must promote this right “in accordance with the international obligations of the United States and subject to authorization and continuing supervision by the Federal Government.”\u00a0 It is easy to see why the State Department’s legal adviser thought this meant that miners were subject to authorization and continuing supervision.\u00a0 It is easy to see the white birds.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

However, focusing only on the terms and conditions obscures the fact that all Congress did in this sentence was charge the President with promoting a certain outcome.\u00a0 Congress itself stopped short of imposing that outcome: \u00a0 it did not require asteroid miners to obtain federal authorization before starting operations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At some point in our lives many of us have seen Dutch artist M.C. Escher’s stairs that go around and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[70,127,56,63,55],"class_list":["post-1519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-article-vi","tag-mining","tag-outer-space-treaty","tag-property-rights","tag-self-executing"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nA Tricky Dutch Artist, Congress, and Space Mining - 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