Space Law About to Get a Lot More Complex

NASA is beginning to work with private companies towards exploration and exploitation of the Moon, according to the Verge.com.  Apparently today is the deadline for proposals to construct a Lunar Cargo Transportation and Landing by Soft Touchdown (CATALYST) spacecraft.  One or more companies will be awarded contracts for the development and construction of lunar prospecting robots.

This opens up a relatively unexplored area in law:
 

According to the 1967 Outer Space Treaty of the United Nations, countries are prohibited from laying claim to the moon. The possibility of lunar mining and the emergence of private space companies has triggered a debate over lunar property rights, however.

The text of the Outer Space Treaty can be found here.  As the article notes, the Treaty was limited in scope to exploration, and commercial exploitation and property rights remain an unsettled issue.

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