Mineral Content In Asteroids Worth IDR 1.433 Trillion, Enough To Reduce Global Poverty

Asteroid belt around Mars (NASA Gov)

JAKARTA – Recently, NASA announced the mineral content in an asteroid that is between Mars and Jupiter for 100 billion US dollars or equivalent to IDR 1,433 trillion. This amount is enough to make the world's population rich.

This wealth can only be obtained by space rocket companies, both private and state-owned. However, until now there has been no legal clarity regarding the ownership of these resources from outer space.

Ian Christensen as Director of private sector programs at the Secure World Foundation stated that space law is still ambiguous and unclear.

"There are some loopholes in the legislation, and some things need to be classified to give more certainty to the current legislation", Christensen said as quoted by CNBC International on Wednesday, August 4, 2021.

He also added that currently there is no responsible authority regarding the allocation of resources in outer space. The national government only allows parties to fly into space. Christensen said the authority to enforce these regulations is the state.

"Enforcement is carried out by national government authorities, but there is no special space authority", he explained.

He only mentioned one regulation that was initiated by the United Nations, namely the Outer Space Treaty which was initiated in 1967. However, the regulation does not have definite clarity.

This opinion is in line with that expressed by Rebecca Keller, a science and technology analyst from Stratfor. Keller noted that the area of use of the resources in outer space remains unclear. She said the government and experts should work together to discuss this.

"Governments and even experts in this field are still fighting over the proper use of these resources and that remains a difficult question to answer", she said.

Keller stressed the importance of space resource laws. On the other hand, she admits that regulations are often left behind by rapid technological developments.

“Legislation lags behind technology, almost all the time”, she said.

In addition, she said that soon trips to outer space will be more crowded. Private rocket companies will benefit greatly from the absence of government control over space regulations.