The Multi-Level System of Space Mining: Regulatory Aspects and Enforcement Options

Few contests that space mining holds the potential to revolutionize the space sector. The utilization of space resources can reduce the costs of deep space exploration and kick-off an entirely new economy in our solar system. However, whether such a revolution will happen for good or for worse depends also on the enactment of appropriate regulation. Under the right framework, space mining will be able to deliver on its promise of a new era of prosperous and sustainable space exploration. But with the wrong rules (or lack thereof), unbalanced space resource activities can destabilize the space community to a truly unprecedented scale. With companies planning mining operations on the Moon already during this decade, the regulation of space resource activities has thus become one of the most pressing and crucial topics to be addressed by the global space community.

In this context, this thesis provides a first-of-its-kind, comprehensive and innovative analysis of the regulatory and enforcement options currently shaping the multi-level governance of space mining. In addition to this, the thesis also suggests a series of correctives that can improve the system and ensure the peaceful, rational, safe, and sustainable conduct of space mining. Structurally, the thesis moves from general to particular and is divided in three chapters. Chapter 1 discusses the relationship between space law and international law to contextualize the specific assessment of space mining. Chapter 2 analyses the current regulatory framework applicable to space mining, considering both the international and national levels. Finally, Chapter 3 identifies potential enforcement options, assesses them in terms of effectiveness and legitimacy, and further proposes some pragmatic correctives to reinforce the governance system.