Space Resources and the Politics of International Regime Formation

Abstract

Space resources such as minerals or lunar ice deposits are of growing economic and political interest in the context of the emerging space economy and the intensifying geopolitical tensions of a new "space race". Scholars and stakeholders increasingly engage with the question of how to regulate the future exploration and exploitation of space resources under international law. A potential option that has drawn broad attention in the debate is a multilateral regime that would regulate space resources as the common heritage of humanity and aim for the fair and equitable sharing of benefits that derive from their exploration and exploitation. Whereas a considerable body of literature addresses the legal and institutional characteristics of such a hypothetical regime, questions of regime formation have so far been neglected. This paper probes the feasibility and the prospects of developing a multilateral and common heritage-centric regime for space resources by a) drawing on theoretical insights from the scholarly debate on the politics of international regime formation and b) extracting insights and lessons from two historical cases of regime formation (under the Antarctic Treaty System and the Law of the Sea Convention) addressing similar challenges of regulating transnational commons in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction. The analysis indicates extraordinarily adverse background conditions that make the successful formation of a multilateral and common heritagecentric regime for space resources highly implausible despite its prima facie normative appeal. The political prospects for devising fair, equitable and effective solutions to the problem of space resources are accordingly limited and likely to remain so.

Tipping Points of Space Debris in Low Earth Orbit

“…As such, various economic incentives have been proposed to address market limitations. For instance, centralized governance approaches and multi-actor coalitions might reduce market competition to promote cleanup (Klima et al, 2018;Rabitz, 2023). Taxes on orbital uses (Rao et al, 2020), satellite launches (Rouillon, 2020), and debris production (Bernhard et al, 2023) have been proposed to preserve the value of satellites in LEO while maintaining a relatively debris-free environment.…”

Accessibility to Space Infrastructures and Outer Space: Anthropological Insights from Europe’s Spaceport

“…Existing space infrastructures are already deeply entrenched in Earthly governance structures and have the potential to further exploit existing power dynamics. So, in the process of discussing potential regimes, may they be around Earth's orbit (X. S. Yap & Truffer, 2022), space resources (Rabitz, 2023) or the Moon (Tepper & Whitehead, 2018), considering the underlying processes already in place can provide important considerations regarding implicit consequences. As previously discussed, the key legal framework on which most outer space exploration is based is the Outer Space Treaty.…”

“…The most commonly relied-on treaty up to date, the Outer Space Treaty (OST) dates from 1967, is party by 144 nations, and sets global principles for the exploration of outer space (UN, 2023). However, it provides very little universally agreed-upon binding legislation and the OST does not explicitly address issues regarding space debris, property in space, mining in space, and other commercial activities (Rabitz, 2023).…”

Governing Outer Space as a Commons is Critical for Addressing Commons on Earth

“…The authors concluded that approaching outer space as a global commons remains a project to be continuously constructed and institutionalized. Meanwhile, Rabitz (2023) discusses the potential formation of multilateral regimes for space resources and articulates why the prospects of just, effective, and efficient solutions are limited based on our current knowledge of governance of global commons. These articles demonstrate the need and urgency for international agreements for dealing with the rapid rise in satellite activities or before the mineral rush in space takes off.…”