Luxemburg recently made public its plans to develop a European Space Resources Innovation Centre (ESRIC). This body would preside over the exploration and exploitation of extra-terrestrial resources.
Luxembourg, together with the European Space Agency, is focused on making the innovation center an institution of expertise that is recognized internationally for economic, business, technical and scientific aspects that correlate with the utilization of space resources. This includes minerals and metals found in asteroids and water on the moon.
Luxembourg is a small but very wealthy country, the wealthiest in the European Union. The country’s finance sector contributes the most to its economy. The country has an established space industry, having played an important role in satellite communication development.
Luxembourg seems to have made significant progress with regard to its objective of becoming a key player in the asteroid mining industry. In 2016, the country bought a major stake in Planetary Resources, an asteroid miner based in the United States. Luxembourg also has an agreement with Deep Space Industries to dispatch missions to look for minerals and water in space. The two parties are working on Prospector-X, an experimental space probe that will be used to test technologies for mining and surveying near-earth asteroids starting next year.
The nation also created its very own space agency, the Luxembourg Space Agency, in 2018 as a way to promote the commercial use and exploration of resources from NEOs.
Apart from this, the country has legislation in place for the exploitation of space resources. While private firms may not have the luxury of owning celestial bodies, a law that was approved in 2017 entitles the country to the resources they excavate in outer space.
This isn’t the only country working on space exploration. During former President Barack Obama’s second term in office, he signed a law that granted American citizens the right to own resources that were excavated in outer space. This promoted asteroid mining in the U.S., with many companies being encouraged to commercially explore and use resources from asteroids. However, U.S. citizens are not granted the jurisdiction over or exclusive rights of any celestial bodies.
Furthermore, NASA recently set in motion an initiative to promote moon exploration, referred to as the Break the Ice lunar challenge. The initiative is on the lookout for people with different perspectives and ideas for a system architecture who can mine and move water and icy regoliths at the lunar South Pole.
Back here on Earth, the mining industry has lots of entities focused on different resources. One interesting company you should watch is GoldHaven Resources Corp. (OTCQB: ATUMF) (CSE: GOH). The company’s sole interest lies in finding, acquiring and exploring properties that are rich in mineral resources. GoldHaven recently revealed that it was in the advanced stages of adding seven properties in the Chilean Maricunga Gold Belt to its portfolio.
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