Mining the moon and asteroids could be worth trillions upon trillions of dollars, and several companies have popped up with that mission in mind. But is space mining technically legal? For asteroids, the answer is probably "yes," but for the moon, it's complicated, experts say. In 1967, 110 countries, including the U.S., Russia and China, signed a treaty stating that no "sovereigns" can claim ownership of the moon . However, this "Outer Space Treaty" (OST) does not explicitly prohibit companies or individuals from extracting and owning resources from space, Michelle Hanlon , a professor of space law at the University of Mississippi School of Law, told Live Science . Related: Undiscovered 'minimoons' may orbit Earth. Could they help us become an interplanetary species? "As a lawyer, I can point out all of the gray right there," said Hanlon, who is also the CEO & president of For All Moonkind , a nonprofit that aims to protec...
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