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Research Brief 04: Who Owns What You Mine? Space Resources Law in 2026

Frontier (thefrontier.space) — Research Programme Date: 2026-10-28 Status: Published, v1.0. General information only, not legal advice. Scope: What international and national law says about owning resources taken from asteroids and the Moon, which countries have passed laws, what New Zealand requires, and what is still unsettled.

1. Summary

  • International law has no settled answer. The Outer Space Treaty bars states from claiming sovereignty over celestial bodies (Article II), but whether extracting and owning resources counts as "appropriation" is contested. Some states read the treaty permissively, others (China in its submission to the UN working group) want non-appropriation reaffirmed and spelled out [1][2].
  • Four countries have passed laws giving operators ownership of what they extract: the United States (2015), Luxembourg (2017), the UAE (2019, with regulations in 2023) and Japan (2021) [3][4][5][6][7].
  • The UN is drafting non-binding principles. The COPUOS Working Group on Legal Aspects of Space Resource Activities has worked on them since March 2025; its chair produced a consolidated draft in September 2026, with further meetings planned before the April 2027 Legal Subcommittee session [2].
  • The Moon Agreement is not a barrier in practice. It calls the Moon's resources the "common heritage of mankind" and promises an international regime, but sources report fewer than 20 states have ratified it [8].
  • For a New Zealand-based project, launching or operating a payload from NZ, or as a New Zealander overseas, falls under the Outer Space and High-altitude Activities Act 2017 and needs a permit from MBIE [9][10]. NZ has no space-resources ownership statute that we found.

2. The international baseline

Outer Space Treaty, Article II. Celestial bodies are not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, use or occupation. Article I makes exploration and use free for all states. The dispute is whether taking a resource out of its place, as opposed to claiming land, is "appropriation." One national submission argues Article II does not bar ownership of resources once removed, relying on Article I; a stricter reading holds that mining consumable resources is itself a form of appropriation [2]. Commentary on the debate describes the question as unresolved [11].

Moon Agreement (1979). Article 11 declares the Moon and its natural resources the common heritage of mankind and commits parties to establish an international regime when exploitation becomes feasible. Reports put ratifications below 20, and the major spacefaring states are not parties [8].

UN working group. The COPUOS group is producing "initial recommended principles," which are soft law. Commentary notes COPUOS consensus has mainly yielded non-binding norms, and that Russia has floated the idea that the principles could later feed a treaty [2].

3. National laws that grant ownership

Country Instrument What it says Source
United States Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act 2015, 51 U.S.C. §51303 A U.S. citizen engaged in commercial recovery of an asteroid or space resource is entitled to possess, own, transport, use and sell it, consistent with applicable law and U.S. international obligations. "Space resource" is defined as an abiotic resource found in situ in space, including water and minerals [3][11]
Luxembourg Law of 20 July 2017 Article 1: space resources are capable of being owned. A written ministerial mission authorisation is required; it is personal, non-assignable, for commercial missions, and limited to listed Luxembourg-registered company types [4][5]
UAE Federal Law No. 12 of 2019; Cabinet Resolution No. 19 of 2023 (Space Resources Regulations) Regulations cover extraction, processing, ownership and sale of non-living space resources; activities need UAE Space Agency authorisation. We could not confirm the operative ownership wording from the sources retrieved [6]
Japan Act No. 83 of 2021 Article 5: a licensed business acquires ownership of space resources it mines by possessing them with intent to own, in line with its approved business plan. Article 6 requires respect for Japan's treaty obligations [7]

Japan was described as the fourth country with such a law, after the US, Luxembourg and the UAE [7]. The US and Luxembourg laws are commonly compared as similar in effect [4].

4. New Zealand

The Outer Space and High-altitude Activities Act 2017 sets up a licensing and permitting regime for space activities launched from New Zealand or carried out by New Zealanders overseas. "Payload" is defined broadly and a payload permit (or overseas payload permit) is required [9][10]. MBIE's guidance says the Minister can recognise an overseas authorisation for orbital debris mitigation and safe operation of the payload [10]. Applications are made online [10].

Implication for Frontier: a mission flown by a foreign launch partner or hosted on another operator's spacecraft would still raise the question of which state's permit applies. That is a question for a space lawyer when the time comes, not something this brief can answer.

5. What this means for Frontier's plans

  • Frontier's current published plan is research and a ground-based or hosted-payload first step (see Brief 01 v1.1). None of that involves extracting a resource, so ownership law is not yet on the critical path.
  • If a later mission did extract material, the cleanest route on current evidence is to operate under a regime that grants ownership (for example, a partner operator licensed in one of the four countries above). Which one is a decision for counsel.
  • Nothing here describes FRNT as a claim on any resource. FRNT holders have no right to any asteroid or its material.

6. Open questions

  1. Whether the UN principles will be adopted and whether they will reaffirm non-appropriation as China proposes [2].
  2. Whether the Artemis Accords, whose resource provision signatory states use to support extraction, will be tested; the Accords list 77 parties per Wikipedia as of 19 Oct 2026 (NASA reported Türkiye as the 71st on 31 Aug 2026) [12][13]. We did not retrieve the text of the Accords' resource section in this research.
  3. Whether the UAE regulation's ownership wording matches the US and Luxembourg model; check the full text [6].

References

  1. China's submission to the UN working group on space resources (2024). https://www.unoosa.org/documents/pdf/copuos/lsc/space-resources/LSC2024/English_Chinas_submission_to_the_working_group_on_space_resources.pdf
  2. Opinio Juris, "Space Resources and the Anatomy of Consensus at COPUOS," 25 Sep 2026. https://opiniojuris.org/2026/09/25/space-resources-and-the-anatomy-of-consensus-at-copuos/
  3. 51 U.S.C. Chapter 513 (US Code 2015 edition), govinfo. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2015-title51/html/USCODE-2015-title51-subtitleV-chap513.htm
  4. Ogier, "The Luxembourg Space Law." https://www.ogier.com/news-and-insights/news/the-luxembourg-space-law/
  5. Luxembourg Space Agency, "Law of July 20th 2017." https://space-agency.public.lu/en/support/industry-portal/legal-framework/law-of-july-20th-2017.html
  6. UAE Space Agency, Space Resources Regulation (Cabinet Resolution 19 of 2023). https://space.gov.ae/assets/download/32aeae9f/SpaceResources-EN.pdf.aspx ; UAE legislation portal: https://uaelegislation.gov.ae/en/legislations/1634
  7. Japan, Act on the Promotion of Business Activities for the Exploration and Development of Space Resources (Act No. 83 of 2021), official translation. https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/4332/en
  8. IISL (2019), paper on the Moon Agreement and space mining governance, noting 18 ratifications. https://elevenjournals.com/tijdschrift/iisl/2019/5%20Space%20Mining:%20National%20Authority%3F%20International%20Authority%3F%20Both%3F/IISL_2019_062_005_001.pdf ; overview: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_Treaty
  9. Outer Space and High-altitude Activities Act 2017 (NZ). https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2017/29/en/2017-07-10B
  10. MBIE, permits and licences for space activities. https://www.mbie.govt.nz/science-and-technology/space/permits-and-licences-for-space-activities
  11. The Space Review on the 2015 US act. https://thespacereview.com/article/3151/1 ; Peace Palace Library, "Space mining and US space law." https://peacepalacelibrary.nl/blog/2015/space-mining-and-us-space-law
  12. Wikipedia, Artemis Accords (party count as of 19 Oct 2026). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemis_Accords
  13. NASA, Artemis Accords signings news release. https://nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-joins-artemis-accords-workshop-as-global-signings-rise

Frontier research briefs are written to be checked. Every number above links to its source; if you find one that is wrong or out of date, tell us at https://thefrontier.space/research. This brief is general information, not legal advice.