Before we go to “infinity and beyond”
Av Ron Davies, professor ved School of Economics ved University College Dublin og Research Director ved Skatteforsk, NMBU
Publisert 17. oktober 2025
When Sputnik was launched in 1957, it began a space race driven by strategic security. Nearly seventy years later, a new race is underway – this time, fueled by profit. Without regulations, we risk repeating the mistakes of our earthly colonial past.
While the first space race was exclusively the domain of governments, the new one is driven by private companies such as Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin. While technological improvements obviously enabled this shift, we should never underestimate the importance of cash.
Currently, the value of space commerce is approaching USD 1 trillion per year. Traditionally, the industry has focused on building, launching, and maintaining the satellite network that forms the backbone of global communication, collects key weather data, and so on. Recently, however, the space industry has expanded to include the fanciful, like space tourism, and the functional, including low-gravity pharmaceutical research. Looking ahead, with mineral-rich comets like 16 Psyche valued at more than 100,000 times Earth’s GDP, it’s clear that there are massive benefits to be gained by exploiting space.
Unregulated off-world activity
The scramble to exploit these new resources creates the same old issues – namely, that what is good for a company is not always good for society. Even during the first space race, it was understood that what benefits one country does not always help others. This led the United Nations to develop the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, an agreement with two key provisions. First, space was deemed the “province of all mankind.” By affirming that space is a shared resource, the Treaty prevents states from expropriating celestial bodies, orbits, or resources. Second, the Treaty prohibits the militarization of space.
These limits, however, apply to governments – not private companies. Private off-world activity therefore remains almost entirely unregulated. This is a situation that resembles the Wild West as much as it does Star Trek. So, while space might seem limitless, the reality is very different.
One well-known problem is space junk. Since orbiting debris travels at 10km per second, even a tiny object can cause massive damage. This is where the lack of a legal framework comes into play. On Earth, if I hit your car with mine, laws make me liable for damages, including punitive ones for negligence. In space, however, personal liability simply does not exist. If my junk hits your satellite, under the Space Treaty, at best you could ask your government to sue mine on your behalf.
This brings up two issues. First, it is not clear which court would rule on such a case nor how the outcome would be enforced. Second, even if a fine is imposed, this would be on my government – not me. In turn, my government may not have the legal power – or desire – to make me cover those fines. Why wouldn’t they make me pay?
Private militias on the new frontier
Here is a second implication of no regulation. While the Space Treaty prohibits militarization of space, it says nothing about private militias. For example, while the US government may not use its Space Force to attack enemies in space, there’s nothing to stop Elon Musk from doing so with a private army. And, so long as Musk attacks the same ships that Trump would, if he could, why would the US discourage that?
If that sounds crazy, remember that this is how the first multinational companies operated. At its height, the East India Company had a militia of over 260,000 soldiers. Not only was this force twice the size of the British military, its operations in Asia were sanctioned by the British crown via “letters of marque and reprisal”. These letters, which were used by Britain, France, Spain, and the Dutch, which gave private militias permission to attack and capture the ships of enemy nations. And these countries weren’t the only ones -- the Kingdom of Denmark–Norway used letters of marque during its wars with Sweden and Britain.
Such state-sanctioned attacks don’t even have to be physical. Blockading the re-entry of a competitor’s ship, jamming their transmissions, and sowing their systems with malicious code all achieve a similar end: holding others back to help yourself. Again, without laws governing theft, collusion, tax evasion, worker exploitation, and all the other woes we’re used to on Earth, we should expect companies to exploit those loopholes in space. So before we go to “infinity and beyond”, there’s a serious need to develop a strong legal framework can actually live up to that ideal.
