This episode of Thinking on Paper uses Space to Grow to examine who has the right to mine the Moon, extract resources from asteroids and build commercial activity beyond Earth.

The Outer Space Treaty prohibits national sovereignty over celestial bodies, but it leaves important questions unresolved. Can companies own the resources they extract? Who grants mining rights? What happens when commercial claims, national security interests and international law collide?

In this episode, we discuss:

• Who owns the Moon and other celestial bodies
• Whether companies can legally mine lunar resources
• How asteroid mining could work
• What the Outer Space Treaty says about ownership
• Why the Moon Treaty has limited international support
• The difference between owning territory and owning extracted resources
• Which companies are trying to build a space-resource economy
• How property rights could affect investment in lunar infrastructure
• The role of the US Space Force in the commercial space economy
• How China’s space programme is shaping strategic competition
• Why anti-satellite weapons threaten civilian and commercial systems
• Whether competition for space resources could reproduce conflicts on Earth
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The central legal problem is that space treaties were written before private companies could realistically reach the Moon, operate spacecraft at scale or plan commercial extraction.

This conversation examines whether existing space law can govern a growing off-world economy, and how resource competition could affect security, diplomacy and the future of human activity in space.

Please enjoy the show.

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Thinking on paper is a technology podcast on The Social, Environmental, Cultural & Business Impacts Of Technology.

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Chapters

(00:00) Global Conflict

(02:04) Human Nature

(03:28) Asteroid Mining

(05:53) Space Mining

(11:05) The Space Resource Exploration Act

(13:01) Space Mining Legislation

(17:19) Philosophical Perspectives

(20:14) National Security in Space

(20:40) Government in Space Innovation

(21:34) National Security

(23:10) Weaponization of Space

(24:47) The Prisoner's Dilemma

(26:40) Humanity's Moral Compass

(27:03) The Future of Humanity in Space