Policing mining: In outer-space greed and domination vs. peace and equity a governance for humanity!

Staking claim and ownership has remained an antagonistic issue for nations, resulting in many international conflicts. This is particularly so in disputed territories or areas which are deemed the heritage of mankind. In the next 50-years mining in space is set to become a reality and rather than being used to become an asset to man/society and create an equitable world, it is likely to be a battleground for greed and sovereign dominance – an overspill from Earth.

This paper researches the conflict between greed and dominance vs. peace and equity in respect to space - mineral resources, providing historical contextualization, opinion, thoughts and interpretation. Hence, consideration is given to international approaches and who should ‘police,’ plus the governance of, space riches. The research largely considers the stance of the USA in this respect. The relevance of travel and travel modes (particularly air) and ownership of the sky is reviewed, so as to provide comparison and (historical) contextualization – identifying issues previously encountered when man looks to both travel and acquire assets by these means. The latest position of asteroid mining is also explored and ‘lessons from Earth’ are revisited as part of this research – which is largely considered and undertaken from a legal (discipline) perspective.