Here's another good article about it in Wired.
Curiously, the bill tracker still gives it an 11% chance of being enacted. Clearly, the bill tracker's crystal ball is quite cloudy! I don't want to jinx it, but I haven't heard anything to indicate that the President would veto it — looks like it's practically a done deal to me.
The cool thing about this legislation is that it boils down to: you still can't own property you find in space, but you can mine stuff you find in space, and own that. This would of course include owning any space colonies you build.
So, this sets up the incentives so that the most profitable thing to do would be to mine the asteroids, and convert them into space habitats... and to do this as quickly as possible (before somebody else beats you to it). That's good news for settling space!
Curiously, the bill tracker still gives it an 11% chance of being enacted. Clearly, the bill tracker's crystal ball is quite cloudy! I don't want to jinx it, but I haven't heard anything to indicate that the President would veto it — looks like it's practically a done deal to me.
The cool thing about this legislation is that it boils down to: you still can't own property you find in space, but you can mine stuff you find in space, and own that. This would of course include owning any space colonies you build.
So, this sets up the incentives so that the most profitable thing to do would be to mine the asteroids, and convert them into space habitats... and to do this as quickly as possible (before somebody else beats you to it). That's good news for settling space!
Joe Strout
Lead Developer, High Frontier