

Ask HN: Who owns the asteroids? - nns1212

Startup like Planetary Resources is trying to mine the asteroids. My question is, who owns them?<p>Won't mining them affect gravitational forces applied by them - that could lead to disasters?<p>If a company is able to mine the moon, should it be allowed to drill a hole in it or even permanently destroy it?
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RollAHardSix
I imagine the moon will be given something like the Antarctic Treaty System
declaring it for research, at-least for the next 50 - 100 years (possibly
longer but I feel as if space exploration...or rather mining...will 'take off'
within it's first 25 - 50 years).

In terms of the asteroids, I'm expecting massive government intervention
(interference) on which asteroids they can mine, where, when, and what. I'm
not familiar enough with current mining laws / regulations to speculate
whether any of those will be applicable in a space-mining environment.

On another note, imagine the fun in dealing with unions in 50 - 150 years. All
I can think about is one of the opening scenes from Titan A.E.

