Luxembourg shoots for the stars, invests $28 million in Planetary Resources

The funding, which includes a direct investment of €12 million and grants for €13 million from the country’s government and bank Société Nationale de Crédit et d’Investissement (SNCI), aims to help Planetary Resources launch its first commercial asteroid prospecting mission by 2020, the Redmond, Washington firm said in a statement.

The agreement falls within the framework of Luxembourg’s SpaceResources.lu initiative, which goal is to boost exploration and the commercial utilization of resources from near earth objects, such as asteroids, the government said in a separate statement.

As part of the deal, Planetary Resources is setting up a European headquarters in the country, which will conduct key research and development activities in support of its commercial asteroid prospecting capabilities, as well as support international business activities, the asteroid miner said.

The tiny European nation is one of the euro zone’s wealthiest countries and already has a long-standing space industry, playing a significant role in the development of satellite communications.

In June, it announced the opening of a €200 million (US$221 million) line of credit for entrepreneurial space companies to set up their European headquarters within its borders.

Prior to date, Luxembourg reached an agreement with another US-based company, Deep Space Industries, which will be conducting missions to prospect for water and minerals in outer space. Both parties are currently developing Prospector-X, a small and experimental spacecraft that test technologies for prospecting and mining near Earth asteroids after 2020.

Legal frame

Luxembourg’s administration is also working on a legal frame for exploiting space resources so that private companies can be entitled to the resources they mine from asteroids, but not to own the celestial bodies themselves.

The only international legal body available dates back to 1967. The Outer Space Treaty, signed by the US, Russia and a number of other countries, says that nations can’t occupy nor own territory in space.

“Outer space shall be free for exploration and use by all States,” the treaty says, adding that “outer space is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means.”

And while a discussion on the matter is bound to happen, countries such as the US, have decided to make their own rules. Last year, President Barack Obama signed a law granting American citizens rights to own resources mined in space.

The ground-breaking rule was touted as a major boost to asteroid mining because it encourages the commercial exploration and utilization of resources from asteroids obtained by US firms.

Such law does include a very important clause, as it clarifies that US citizens are not granted “sovereignty or sovereign or exclusive rights or jurisdiction over, or the ownership of, any celestial body.”

Geologists believe asteroids are packed with iron ore, nickel and precious metals at much higher concentrations than those found on Earth, making up a market valued in the trillions of dollars.

NASA’ OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will take samples of asteroid material and return it to Earth. (Image courtesy of NASA)