Our current epoch may go down in story as the 100 of space geographic expedition and off - Earth resource victimisation . But there are still considerable insurance policy vault to subdue in terms of how we regulate such body process . As we change state our eye to the sky , we should also calculate south to Antarctica to gain some brainstorm into governance matters in outer blank space .
This yr has already seen significant challenge to existing international space law . Not least , the US Congress passed theSpace Resource Exploration and Utilization Act of 2015 .
This bill radically revises elements of the original Outer Space Treaty ( OST ) from 1967 , under which any resources render to Earth from blank space were reckon the property of all humankind , thus could not be owned or sell .
The bill neuter this so that secret companies and state can keep holding right over any resource brought down to Earth . It open up outer outer space to venture chapiter and assure that US secret companies can obtain a title over any asteroid resources incur in out space .
Outer infinite is a final frontier for capitalism , and it ’s not as far off as you might imagine .
Looking South a Way Forward?
knocked out distance and Antarctica have some uncanny similarities . Both space are contested political frontier from which we can take the step of our planet .
Antarctica is almost extraterrestrial in its hardship to harbour human life . Many field of the Antarctic , like theDry Valleysorsubmerged lakesunder the ice crownwork dish up as proxies for outer space geographic expedition and hunt for alien microbial liveliness .
outside law identifies Antarctica and outer space as two of four global commons ( the others being the high seas and the standard atmosphere ) . Both have been define within external regimes as spaces outside the dominion of state state and beyond the prescriptive inhabitable zones of the human species . In both instance the current establishment regime were outcomes of the International Geophysical Year ( IGY ) ( 1957 - 1958 ) .
It was on the basis of the experience gained during the IGY that three meaning pact egress within a decade : the 1958United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea ; the 1959 Antarctic Treaty ( laterAntarctic Treaty System ) ; and 1967Outer Space Treaty . Each of these lay down the principles of the legal government for exploration and administration of these exterritorial spaces .
Antarctica is currently regulate by an outside pact that could inform how we manage various national and private scientific and commercial interests in infinite . brookpeterson / Flickr , CC BY - NC - NDl .
Cold Precedent
Over the preceding 50 years , the Antarctic realm has been governed through the Antarctic Treaty System ( ATS ) . The ATS has arguably provide important lessons have-to doe with the organization of trans - boundary systems beyond sovereign jurisdictions . It has successfully calmed down political tensions over sovereignty title .
It has also helped protect Antarctic ecosystem from mineral victimization through theEnvironmental Protocolto the ATS , a situation that may be revisited in 2048 . It also has safeguard the polar continent as a zone of public security and scientific collaboration .
But , inevitably , both these treaties are historically contingent . The Environmental Protocol for instance may be retool in 2048 . It is not unthinkable that in the near future , with deepen internal pastime in mineral and biological resources , Antarctica could potentially become another good frontier .
For example , today there are a few hundred enquiry organizations and company from at least 27 states contract biological prospecting in the Antarctic . Yet it is ill-defined — and contested — who owns the microbial diversity that exists outdoors of national territories .
This guide to the kinds of issues that may arise as mineral prospecting operations begin on asteroids , the Moon or other celestial bodies within the next few decades .
It may be hard to imagine the OST will effectively calm down political anxiety over outer space resource exploitation . This is because the possible economic benefit of infinite geographic expedition are likely to become a chief driver .
Common Good
On the other hand , if the aim is to safeguard and protect extraterrestrial space , to maintain it as one of the four park for humankind under international law and to defuse political tensions , Antarctica may well continue to provide a model for outside coaction in space .
Important interrogation remain unresolved : is the principle ofres communis — through which blank space is empathize to belong to to all human beings — successfully ensuring that the exploration of outer space is given a fair go ?
The OST state understandably that the geographic expedition and role of outer space must be carried out for the welfare and in the interests of all area , irrespective of their arcdegree of economic or scientific development .
Are there intangible benefits and intrinsic values of space exploration that we must bring to the bow ?
Or , on the contrary , is the OST effectively limiting expansion and innovation in outer space geographic expedition by being dim on property right , the “ use ” of outer blank , and hindering capital expansion beyond Earth ? In this case Antarctica may not be the good exemplar , as it bans mining activity altogether .
These are more than economic and legal predicaments . They represent a philosophic quandary of how we visualise ourselves as species into the future tense and into the solar system of rules .
We need an open and far - reach international and inter - corrective dialogue on our impending endeavours in extinct blank . In my view a normative fabric is still needed that can superintend space mineral resource geographic expedition and exploitation . For the metre being , Antarctica may still put up a poser to keep in thoughtfulness .
Juan Francisco Salazaris Associate Professor , School of Humanities and Communication Arts atUniversity of Western Sydney . This article was originally published onThe Conversation . Read theoriginal article . Top image : Antarctica is handle by the Antarctic Treaty System , which determine what states and private companies can do . The National Guard , CC BY .
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