Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – With the advancement of technology, more and more people are able to go into space. Maybe even get rich from mining asteroids.
According to NASA, the minerals present in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter are equivalent to US$100 billion (Rp. 1,433 trillion) for every person on Earth.
Unfortunately, there is still no clarity about the law of ownership of space resources. Ian Christensen, director of private sector programs at the Secure World Foundation, said in general most space laws were ambiguous.
“There are some loopholes in the law, and some things need to be classified to give more certainty to the current legislation,” he told CNBC International, quoted Wednesday (4/8/2021).
Christensen also added that no single authority has responsibility for the allocation of resources in space.
Currently, the national government gives permission to those who carry out activities in outer space. Then the country where the company operates has the responsibility to enforce the regulations.
“Enforcement is carried out by national government authorities, but special space authorities do not yet exist,” Christensen said.
The single most comprehensive rule today is the 1967 United Nations Outer Space Treaty. But confusion between countries still exists.
Rebecca Keller, science and technology analyst at Stratfor said the area of using space resources is still quite vague and can be interpreted in two directions. According to him, there is still debate between the government and experts about the proper use.
“Governments and even experts in this field are still fighting over the proper use of these resources and that remains a difficult question to answer,” Keller said.
It is undeniable that outer space is now much busier than before. Many companies also want to go there and have a profit.
On this issue, Keller called on the government to limit and control the expansion of private interests in the future.
The method is the same as the format of the agreement on climate change. The agreement is still rudimentary due to a lack of enforcement powers but the agreement brings some to sit down together.
“Legislation lags behind technology, almost all the time,” Keller said.
(roy/roy)
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