Scenario 6

In December, 2019 the Secure World Foundation and the Open LunarFoundation hosted a one-day workshop to discuss norms of behavior in space.

The purpose of the workshop was to “explore the meaning, purpose, and life cycle of norms, and their use in both preserving the global commons and fostering and maintaining global public goods, especially in the context of norms for activities in the space environment.”

A number of scenarios were presented and one in particular was important to note. The scenario presented a plausible situation where a small company located minable resource deposits through remote sensing (like airborne geophysical surveys on earth) and asserted a priority claim to the resources. A larger company also staked a claim to the same resources based on the small company’s findings. Since states cannot appropriate territory on the moon, (United Nations Treaties on Outer Space) they essentially also have no jurisdiction or legal means of intervention in such a situation.

My paper on interplanetary sovereignty where-in I proposed a gateway governance structure would prevent such an occurrence.