Trump's Space Council chief says space is "not a commons"

Wonder if this has anything to do with the release of the Pentagon video .

In a speech last week, US National Space Council executive director Scott Pace rejected the idea that space was a "global commons" or "the common heritage of mankind" and vowed to make the USA "the most attractive jurisdiction in the world for private-sector investment and innovation in outer space." “It bears repeating: Outer space is not a ‘global commons,’ not the ‘common heritage of mankind,’ not ‘res communis,’ nor is it a public good,” Scott Pace, the executive director of the US National Space Council, said in a speech last week (pdf). “These concepts are not part of the Outer Space Treaty, and the United States has consistently taken the position that these ideas do not describe the legal status of outer space.” Pace says the Trump administration will work with other governments and international organizations to develop fair rules for space, but that the goal is for the US to become “the most attractive jurisdiction in the world for private-sector investment and innovation in outer space…the task for the United States, if it wishes to influence how space is developed and utilized, is to create attractive projects and frameworks in which other nations choose to align themselves and their space activities with us, as opposed to others.”

boingboing.net...

a reply to: Gargoyle91

Well space will most likely going to be the domain of corporations a la Weyland-Yutani corporation from the Aliens series.

So I guess that means we will be claiming Mars as US territory?

I wonder if there will be a war for space or if everyone will just submit to US hegemony?
Also I wonder how ET will play into this? It seems inevitable that altercations will occur as we push outwards.

The fifty-first state. Outer space. Owned and operated by American Corporations under the military control of the United States Space Militia.

If there are other civilizations watching us, waiting for us to demonstrate maturity rather than the dangerous infantile nature of limited tribalism this may be the concept that seals our fate.

a reply to: Gargoyle91

Only if all that tech is really the US all along. If so, that would be pretty awesome. ...one giant leap for mankind and all, right?


Or else, someone will likely tell us to take a flying leap

Yeah, OP, a lot of chatter across the spectrum would justify bearing scrutiny to the question of whether it's all somehow connected imo.

Space talk is becoming rather ubiquitous these days.

Well it isn't a global commons.

New territory belongs to those that get there and stake out their claims.

Most of the world can't do that.

The only real question is who are you going to be paying.

East or West.

originally posted by: muzzleflash
So I guess that means we will be claiming Mars as US territory?

I wonder if there will be a war for space or if everyone will just submit to US hegemony?
Also I wonder how ET will play into this? It seems inevitable that altercations will occur as we push outwards.

I don’t think we are smart enough to even have a conversation with them. Until then I think about all they will do is to make sure we don’t delete ourselves, nothing more.

a reply to: neo96

This kind of attitude is only going to push Russia and China and the US into a space race for territory wouldn't it ? Don't think that will turn out very well.

a reply to: Gargoyle91

this is after all what America does best, since its inception.

take land, by force, genocide, or shady deals. i recon space wouldn't be out of bounds.

weaponize space, then sell it...
its too bad the future we can imagine is the exact future we're creating and headed towards.

originally posted by: neo96

New territory belongs to those that get there and stake out their claims.

Hmmm, that's one doomed space marine

a reply to: Gargoyle91

So not content just acting as the world police, U.S.A now has its sights set on being the Galactic Police too?

Surely, like Earth, Space belongs to all of us?

a reply to: djz3ro

This is all playing out strangely like the Wernher von braun warning .

originally posted by: neo96
Well it isn't a global commons.

New territory belongs to those that get there and stake out their claims.

Most of the world can't do that.

The only real question is who are you going to be paying.

East or West.

Agreed.

We got the science and know how, plus many other nations already try to emmulate the US space based frameworks already in existence, Russian of course as well.

Gutting Nasa was a bad move, but as a result, privatization sprung up in its place and have yeilded fruit.

The US has the technology, know how and ambition. Just flip the switch and let loose the hose.

I can see the first settlers risking death to voyage the abyss to stake a piece of the Moon or Mars.

originally posted by: TerryMcGuire
The fifty-first state. Outer space. Owned and operated by American Corporations under the military control of the United States Space Militia.

If there are other civilizations watching us, waiting for us to demonstrate maturity rather than the dangerous infantile nature of limited tribalism this may be the concept that seals our fate.

Something tells me that when we do meet other civilizations out there, they won't be much different then us.

I agree come and take it China.

Do you want star wars?
This is how you get star wars.

a reply to: Gargoyle91

Why sure!

Space is "territory" and will only be earned by payment in blood, just like all territory.

The same rule applies: The most violent makes the rules.

Good. The only things that push us into the unknown are greed and fear. We go to escape oppression, acquire land/loot or fear our enemies might ahead of us. Let's harness the greed and go exploring.

Having read the article and looked at history the following can be stated:

This is a dangerous speech, one that we should pay attention to and one that could have far more consequences than any of would know about, and it is dangerous as well.

If you look back in history, then it becomes very clear, the first was back in the 1950’s there were 2 races going on. One being the space race and the other was the arms race to develop nuclear weapons. There were miracles of science, pushing the boundaries of science to explore and even mandates, to go to the moon. When the US first put a foot on the moon, it was not as an achievement for the US but for all mankind. And in that there were treaties that were signed, and ratified.

The Outer Space Treaty, formally known as the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of the Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, is the foundations of the framework of the international space law. Part of that treaty was the banning of placing weapons of mass destructions in orbit around the ears, or installing them on any celestial body. It expressly prohibits the use of such for the testing of any weapons, conducting military or establishing military bases, installations and fortifications.
It also explicitly forbids any government from claiming a celestial resource such as the moon or planet, and that no nations can appropriate or claim such by any means. And any damage from any man made object, that nation which put it up there is financially responsible for such.

This speech, as I stated it is highly dangerous. The meaning there should be worrying as it is indicating that the USA is thinking of withdrawing from a treaty that it signed and ratified close to 50 years ago, back in October of 1967. And if it does, then what is to stop other countries, from withdrawing and starting a new race and once that the USA is ill prepared for and would be severely behind and hampered.

The USA has no real high tech manufacturing base, most of it is done outside of the USA. Most of the computers and chips are produced in countries like Japan and China. Countries like Russia and China have been ramping up its space exploration and technologies to where they are equal if not on the forefront of such. NASA budgets has been slashed, that the USA is no longer sending people into space on its own. It has Russia do the taxing of people from Earth to space, via the ISS. So now we can see where it will be hampered, and could ultimately mean that the USA may not have as greater of a role in space, until it can once again start sending people on its own into space.

But then again, even that we are hampered, as it required people with college degrees to do such, the engineers to design, test and ultimately build and send into space. And the way that the education system is going, it may be a bit before the US can have a ready supply of engineers with the necessary degrees and technical know how to accomplish this. Not to mention the fabrication base would have to start up and to make the actual materials required to assemble and put the vehicles together to the specification required to put a human in space safely and return them back.

And currently the majority of those who are excelling at those fields, are not remaining in the USA, but are coming from foreign countries and then returning home, how long till that flow stops and soon the USA is cut out of the loop all together?