Audacious Tactics

> [...] This might mean taxing authority goes to the
> UN rather than the US or EU and mineral royalties and income taxes,
> etc are paid to the UN for the benefit of all mankind [...]

I wouldn't mind that approach, though it seems doubtful given current
political winds. But you never know...

> [...] Can you imagine the US launching a
> bunch of US Marshalls, and IRS agents, and State Department officers
> into orbit to take over your property only to have you not recognize
> their sovereignty over you and threaten them with deportation. HAH!

Well... if the first space mining enterprise has to be completely
self-sufficient that's a pretty big hurdle to cross. If they're not
self-sufficient, all the US has to do is shut down land-based finances
and operations and wait for the orbital arm to run out of supplies. A
rather well-known tactic under the name 'siege'. Nascent space mining
enterprises will be terribly vulnerable for a long time.

>
> IMHO, I'd rather see effort spent on solid business plans that
> require space resources than spinning wheels on legal reform which
> impacts on no players because there aren't any solid business plans.

How can you have a solid business plan without a grasp of the legal rights?
Greg Nemitz has a business plan - his friend Dennis Hope already has
a multi-million dollar business selling lunar real estate (you know all
that spam you get to buy an acre on the Moon?) and that's just
treating it as a "novelty" item....

But space enterprise is also very interdependent - if we don't have low
cost to orbit (which will probably take a $10 billion investment to
achieve, whether private or public) then none of the space tourism,
real estate, or mining plans are going to work at all. With
cheaper access to orbit, the orbital market will spawn at least
as many business plans (some of them solid) as the internet did.

Arthur