The
1967 Outer Space Treaty
establishes that space, as the "province of all mankind," shall be freely explored and used by all nations, and that the use of the
moon
and all other
celestial bodies
shall be for peaceful purposes.
[5]
In 2015, the U.S. Congress passed a law explicitly allowing American companies to use resources from the moon and asteroids, the
Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act of 2015
.
In April 2020, the
U.S. Executive Order
13914 clarified the position of the U.S. government on the use of space resources and how the United States will foster the commercial development of space resources.
[6]
[7]
“Americans should have the right to engage in commercial exploration, recovery, and use of resources in outer space,” the order states.
[8]