Space Exploration Won’t Work Without Private Property

National prestige and curiosity will not suffice as long-term motivations for the exploration of space -- there must also be economic incentives. 

Rainer Zitelmann | April 30, 2026

Let me take you on a thought experiment: Imagine you start an asteroid mining company. It’s tough at first. You know that profits are uncertain and, if they do ever materialize, it will be in five years at the earliest, maybe even ten. It takes a long time to find investors willing to trust you because several similar ventures with almost identical business models have already gone bust and the investment horizon is far too long for many. Nevertheless, you persevere, and you manage to convince a few investors.

You hire astronomers to identify asteroids with valuable metals such as platinum. You send unmanned probes to several near-Earth asteroids to collect samples. The first few turn out to be of little value. The costs are too high and outweigh any potential profits.

Then comes the breakthrough: You find a suitable asteroid, and you succeed in bringing platinum group metals all the way back to Earth. But then a group of countries file a lawsuit against you. They are all signatories to the so-called “Moon Agreement” of 1979, formally known as the “Agreement Governing the Activities of States in the Moon and other Celestial Bodies,” which came into effect in 1984. The treaty applies not only to the Moon, but to all celestial bodies, including asteroids.

Some of these countries are now demanding that you hand over a significant share of your profits to people who have never had anything to do with asteroid mining -- many of whom couldn’t even say exactly what an asteroid is, let alone launch rockets into orbit. They invoke Article IV, Paragraph 1, and Article XI, Paragraphs 1 and 3, of the Moon Agreement, which state: “The exploration and use of the Moon shall be the province of all mankind and shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interest of all countries, irrespective of their degree of economic and scientific development. Due........

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