This book aims to find a workable interpretation of the
non-appropriation principle that is compatible with both the existing
international space law framework and the move of the private space
industry towards the mining of asteroids and other celestial bodies. It
does so by analysing the rules on the use of orbits as limited natural
resources as a concrete indication of how space resources can be
exploited by one user while respecting the non-appropriation principle
and the interests of other users in space. This analysis is complemented
by a thorough review of the meaning of property rights in the context of
the existing international space law regime. This allows the author to
distinguish between the lawful exploitation and unlawful appropriation
of resources in a manner that could pave the way for a workable asteroid
mining regime that takes into account the needs of individual companies
and the international community.
Exclusive use in an inclusive environment frames the legal regime of
the exploitation of natural resources in outer space as the most
pressing example to date of the tension that arises between the rights
of a single spacefaring actor and the interests of the broader
international community. Though academic in its approach in dealing with
one of the most fundamental issues of space law to date, the book has
very practical ambitions. By offering a pragmatic interpretation of the
space law principles that are likely to remain the legal foundations of
asteroid mining for the foreseeable future, Exclusive use in an
inclusive environment hopes to inform academics, practitioners and
policymakers alike in their future attempts at working out a fair,
equitable and effective management regime for the exploitation of
natural resources in outer space.
