November 26, 2020
The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) will study the issue of mining in space. An expert working group on space resources will be established in the structure of the RAS Space Council. It will address both scientific and legal issues of mining in space.
Despite the fact that earlier Dmitry Bisikalo, the director of the RAS Institute of Astronomy reported that with modern technologies, extraction of resources in space is simply unprofitable; the RAS will nevertheless look into these issues in detail.
In the spring of 2020, with a decree, Donald Trump enshrined the right of the United States to the mining of natural resources in space. The NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine proposed to compare space resources with fish in the ocean, which is owned by anyone who catches it.
After NASA had announced its readiness to buy lunar soil from private companies, Russia planned to raise the issue of US claims to lunar resources at the UN.
Experts think that mining in space will become more profitable as the cost of space flights decreases.