Luxembourg passes space mining law

Space mining just took another major step towards becoming a reality.

Luxembourg has just announced that it has passed a law, with near unanimity, recognising the right to space-based resources that they have extracted.

Luxembourg is fast becoming a global hub for space resource mining and the passing of this law proves that. The law advances the progress Luxembourg has made on national and global policy with a foundational national-level legal regime, which will support public and private sector space resources initiatives over the coming decades.

“The Government of Luxembourg has taken constructive steps to support the space resources industry with the creation of a positive policy climate for space mining companies including the establishment of the Spaceresources.Lu initiative and the appointment of a Special Envoy for Space Resources, Mr. Georges Schmit, who is also a member of our Board of Directors,” said Chris Lewicki, President and CEO of Planetary Resources. “Luxembourg continues to be a strong partner and a global leader. They are genuinely forward thinking, have a proven record in the satellite industry, and are making their mark on the space mining industry. The passage of this law today is further proof of that.”

Peter Marquez, Acting General Manager of Planetary Resources Luxembourg, said, “Luxembourg’s new space resources law provides Planetary Resources with a strong basis for stability and predictability for our current and future asteroid mining operations. We are appreciative that Luxembourg has taken this critical step towards the long-term sustainability of asteroid mining.”

Related stories:

• Meet the Japanese company that intends to mine the moon
• If you believe, we can put a mine on the moon: $47million lunar lander being developed by NASA and Taiwan
• Let me play amongst the stars: Deep Space Industries and asteroid mining
• Does the future of mining lie in outer space?
• Luxembourg ups its space race game with Planetary Resources

Mining Global is no stranger to asteroid mining. In a previous issue we spoke with Deep Space Industries, a Huston based company that specialises in building and operating cutting edge spacecraft.

“We’ve spent the last couple of years getting all our ducks in a row and getting the science and engineering right. At this moment in DSI’s history, when we are really coming out for the first time – we’ve got a very solid plan in place.”

Through a partnership with the Luxembourg Government’s spaceresources.lu initiative and the Société Nationale de Crédit et d’Investissement (SNCI), the national banking institution in Luxembourg, DSI will receive funding for the development of the spacecraft technology.

“With the partnership with Luxembourg, it has really allowed us to actually start implementing the technology that we have been working on for some time now,” said Meagan.