Recently in japan a law was passed that grants legal rights to companies that obtain resources in space.
This law had the support of practically the entire political spectrum of the Asian country and was approved without inconvenience by both houses of Congress. And in practice, it means that any private Japanese company that goes into space and brings back some kind of resource, will be able to use it as it sees fit.
In return, companies will have to request authorization from the Japanese government before making any space movement. But beyond that, the objective of the authorities to encourage private parties to join the aerospace activities that the Japanese country is carrying out.
Japan is the fourth country to pass such a law. Previously, Luxembourg, the United Arab Emirates and the United States did.
Precisely in 2020, the United States presented the so-called Artemis Agreement, which involves a series of guidelines to which the countries that reach space commit themselves. Some of these guidelines have to do with safeguarding the lives of astronauts in an emergency, while one in particular encourages the extraction and use of resources from the Moon for investigative purposes.
The Artemis Agreement was signed by NASA, the European Space Agency ESA, the Canadian Space Agency CSA, and the Japan Space Exploration Agency JAXA.
Not all countries involved in the space race have supported this type of treaty. Not only is Russia not part of Artemis – considering it too favorable to the United States – but it has also requested the UN to launch an investigation into the matter.
Russia is also one of those that has not ratified the 1979 Moon Agreement, in which countries agree not to use the resources extracted from the satellite for commercial purposes.
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