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44 J. Space L. 1 (2020)
A Re-Examination of Fundamental Principles of International Space Law at the Dawn of Space Mining

handle is hein.journals/jrlsl44 and id is 7 raw text is: A RE-EXAMINATION OF FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF INTERNATIONAL SPACE LAW AT THE DAWN OF SPACE MINING Fengna Xu,* Jinyuan Su** & Miqdad Mehdi***+ ABSTRACT When the Outer Space Treaty and Moon Agreement were con- cluded, there existed no urgency to regulate space resources extrac- tion activities. Four decades thereafter, technological development makes the exploitation and use of space resources not only possible, but likely a reality in the near future. At present, both governments and ambitious private actors are engaged in the development of technologies for space mining activities. The United States and Luxembourg have enacted domestic legislation to protect property rights over the resources to be extracted. Consequently, given that the context in which the Outer Space Treaty operates has become starkly different from the one in which it was conceived, there is an urgent need for a new international regime to regulate these activ- ities. Indeed, the international community is trying to create an ap- propriate legal framework, in fora such as the Legal Subcommittee of United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space and the Hague Space Resources Governance Working Group. But before instigating such a regime, it is important to examine the con- tents of the Outer Space Treaty, the Magna Carta of international outer space law, especially the four fundamental principles most relevant to space mining, including the freedom of exploration and use, non-appropriation, common benefit and interests and environ- mental protection. This Article analyzes these fundamental PhD candidate, The Silk Road Institute of International Law, School of Law, Xi'an Jiaotong University, fengna.xu@foxmail.com. Professor specializing in space law, School of Law, Xi'an Jiaotong University, jinyuan.su@hotmail.com. *** PhD candidate, The Silk Road Institute of International Law, School of Law, Xi'an Jiaotong University, miqdadmehdi93@gmail.com. + This paper is a fully revised and updated version of a paper with the same title which was presented at the 2019 China Space Conference, Changsha, China, April 2019. 1

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