Space Mining and Its Regulation, Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 2017 Astronautical Engineering Series

This book addresses the complex technical challenges presented by remote space mining in terms of robotics, remote power systems, space transport, IT and communications systems, and more. It also addresses the difficult oversight and regulatory issues that face states and non-state enterprises that would take on the perilous task of obtaining natural resources from the Moon and asteroids.

An increasing number of countries are becoming involved in space-related activities that were previously carried out primarily by the United States and the USSR (now the Russian Federation). How these regulatory endeavors might be handled in international treaties, standards, codes of conduct or other means have become a truly international political issue. And there is yet another issue.

In the past, space activities traditionally fell under the exclusive domain of government. But the last few years have seen the emergence of the private sector of "space entrepreneurs." This poses many challenges for the pre-existing governance regimes and state-based conceptions of international law. This book examines the adequacies and ambiguities in treaty provisions and national laws and in currently accepted practices involving the growing exploration and exploitation of space-based natural resources.

Prof.  Ram S. Jakhu is Associate Professor at the Institute of Air and Space Law, Faculty of Law, McGill University, Montreal, Canada, where he teaches and conducts research in international space law, law of space applications, law of space commercialization, government regulation of space activities, law of telecommunications and Canadian communications law, and public international law. He is a member of the Global Agenda Council on Space of the World Economic Forum and a Fellow as well as the Chairman of the Legal and Regulatory Committee of the International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety (IAASS). In 2007, he received a “Distinguished Service Award” from the International Institute of Space Law for significant contributions to the development of space law. He is managing editor of the Space Regulations Library series and a member of the editorial boards of the Annals of Air and Space Law and of the German Journal of Air and Space Law. He served as the first Director of the Master’s Program of the International Space University, Strasbourg, France, 1995–1998. He is a widely published author and editor of an award-winning book, National Regulation of Space Activities. His academic degrees include a B.A. as well as an LL.B. from Panjab University, an LL.M. also from Panjab University in International Law, an LL.M. from McGill University in Air and Space Law, and a Doctor of Civil Law (on Dean’s Honours List) from McGill University in Law of Outer Space and Telecommunications.                    

Dr. Joseph N. Pelton currently serves as a member of the Executive Board of the International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety. He is the former Chairman of the Board of Trustees and Vice President and Dean of the International Space University as well as the Director Emeritus of the Space and Advanced Communications Resear