U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order that encourages the mining of resources in on the Moon and asteroids.
“Americans should have the right to engage in commercial exploration, recovery, and use of resources in outer space, consistent with applicable law,” reads the order.
The order stomps on the idea of space being a common resource to be shared among all.
“Outer space is a legally and physically unique domain of human activity, and the United States does not view it as a global commons,” reads the order. “Accordingly, it shall be the policy of the United States to encourage international support for the public and private recovery and use of resources in outer space, consistent with applicable law.”
Russia was frazzled by the executive order. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday that “any kind of attempt to privatize space in one form or another — and I find it difficult to say now whether this can be seen as an attempt to privatize space — would be unacceptable,” as quoted by Kitco News.
“Attempts to expropriate outer space and aggressive plans to de facto seize the territories of other planets will hardly encourage other nations to participate in fruitful cooperation,” said Sergey Savelyev, Roscosmos deputy director responsible for international cooperation, in a statement.
