The Hague Working Group on Space Resources: Creating the Legal Building Blocks for a New Industry

Given the inherently international (or more accurately, extranational) nature of asteroid mining, an international discussion has also arisen at the United Nations and other fora. In order to prepare the way for the future regulation of space resource extraction, The Hague Space Resources Governance Working Group (Working Group) was created to develop so-called "building blocks" for use in the construction of a future legal framework governing mining activities. This "legal framework" may take the form of a treaty, but it is more likely to be a soft form of international law, such as a U.N. resolution, or a model domestic law designed for adoption state by state. The Working Group is agnostic on this point and is designing the building blocks to provide guidance in any sort of rulemaking.