Am I missing something here, or is the answer painfully obvious.....
Well according to a recent article in Popular Science, it is a bit more complicated than first blush would have us believe. According to the PopSci article - the House is holding hearings to discuss a new law to manage resource mining in space.
In the early days of the "Space Race" an accord or "Treaty" was signed that said, in simple terms, no country or person could assume to own any celestial body. But now the focus is on mineral rights. There is some credence given to having a legal framework in place which may at the very least spur more entrepreneurial interest in the sector. The proposed legislation, working in tandem with the earlier Outer Space Treaty, formulated in 1967, would give U.S. companies ownership of any materials they mine from asteroids, but not ownership of the asteroid itself.
Read the complete Popsci article HERE
