[meteorite-list] House Subcommittee to Hold Hearing on ASTEROIDS Act on September 10

[Ron Baalke]

http://www.spacepolicyonline.com/news/house-subcommittee-to-hold-hearing-on-asteroids-act

House Subcommittee to Hold Hearing on ASTEROIDS Act on September 10
Marcia S. Smith
03-Sep-2014

The Space Subcommittee of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee 
will hold a hearing next week on the ASTEROIDS Act, which was introduced 
in July by Rep. Bill Posey (R- FL) and Derek Kilmer (D-WA).

The goal of the legislation is to establish and protect property rights 
for commercial exploration and exploitation of asteroids.   Two U.S. companies 
promoting such activities are Planetary Resources, headquartered in Kilmer's 
Redmond, WA district, and Deep Space Industries of Houston, TX.   Posey's 
district includes Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and NASA's Kennedy 
Space Center.

Five witnesses have been announced for the hearing, four of whom are scientists 
and one is a space lawyer.  The scientists are:

  * Jim Green, Director of NASA's Planetary Science Division;
  *  Phil Christensen, an Arizona State University (ASU) professor who 
co-chairs the National Research Council's (NRC's) Committee on Astrobiology 
and Planetary Science (CAPS) and was a member of the NRC's Decadal Survey 
for planetary science;
  * Jim Bell, another ASU Professor who is President of the grass-roots 
space advocacy group The Planetary Society; and
  *  Mark Sykes, CEO and Director of the Tucson, AZ-based non-profit solar 
system exploration advocacy group Planetary Science Institute. 

The fifth witness is Joanne Gabrynowicz, an internationally recognized 
space lawyer who for many years before her retirement headed the National 
Center for Remote Sensing, Air and Space Law at the University of Mississippi 
and was editor of the Journal of Space Law.  She is currently a member 
of the NASA Advisory Council's Planetary Protection Subcommittee that 
advises the agency on matters concerning the prevention of forward or 
back contamination of solar system bodies.

The concept of mining asteroids involves many scientific, technical and 
economic considerations, but property rights is a particularly thorny 
issue.  Under the 1967 U.N. Outer Space Treaty, there is no national sovereignty 
in space so no country can "own" an asteroid.  Pursuant to the treaty, 
governments are responsible for the actions of their non-governmental 
entities, such as a company, sparking debate over whether a company can 
own an asteroid or any part of it.  Without ownership rights to minerals 
mined from asteroids, it is unlikely that companies would pursue asteroid 
mining even if such an activity could prove to be otherwise feasible. 
 
The ASTEROIDS Act would apply only to U.S. companies and seeks to ensure 
that materials mined from an asteroid by a U.S. company are the property 
of that company.  It would not confer ownership of the asteroid itself.

The hearing is at 10:00 am ET on September 10, 2014 in 2318 Rayburn House 
Office Building.

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Note: the hearing will be webcast live here

http://science.house.gov/hearing/subcommittee-space-exploring-our-solar-system-asteroids-act-key-step

Ron Baalke