1. SPACE LAW CAN YOU MINE AN ASTEROID AND TAKE A PROFIT FROM IT?

2. THE LAWS SET BY THE UNITED NATIONS the exploration and use of outer space shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries and shall be the province of all mankind; outer space shall be free for exploration and use by all States; outer space is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means; States shall not place nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction in orbit or on celestial bodies or station them in outer space in any other manner; the Moon and other celestial bodies shall be used exclusively for peaceful purposes; astronauts shall be regarded as the envoys of mankind; States shall be responsible for national space activities whether carried out by governmental or non-governmental entities; States shall be liable for damage caused by their space objects; and States shall avoid harmful contamination of space and celestial bodies.

3. SHOULD THEY BE ALLOWED TO MINE THE ASTEROIDS FOR MINERALS? Many billionaires are forming a company in which to send a robot controlled craft into space, mine the materials, and bring them back. The question is, those billions of dollars worth of materials, should they belong solely to the company that mines them? Or should they belong to everyone. Since in the law it says that the exploration of space should be for mankind, however the wealth that is in space was not covered in the laws says Henry Hertzfeld. The argument also continues because in the laws it says non- government entities have the right to enter space.

4. INFORMATION ON THE CASE Dates: April 2012 and continuing Companies: Google and companies combining together to create a new company for this. The influences are the amount of money that these billionaires are prepared to spend however they can also bring back a huge sum of money from the resources they would be mining. The law is not specific enough to keep the companies from mining the asteroids at this time so they are free to become richer than they already are by mining in space.

5. CONCLUSION QUESTIONS 1: I believe this case will continue to be fought into the for seeable future 2: If a law is not placed than these companies will become much more wealthy and change the complete face of business and entreprenualship and look at space as the next gold mine.

6. SOURCES http://www.livescience.com/33864-asteroid-mining-space-law.html http://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/ourwork/spacelaw/treaties/introouterspacetreaty.html