OPINION: Future of space travel a private affair

When Columbus sailed west, there were doubtless all sorts of important-seeming topics of discussion, but now when we think of 1492, we think about Columbus. Likewise, though last week saw much discussion about Brian Williams’ helicopter lies, ISIL atrocities, and measles, what may turn out to be the big story of 2015 got much less attention. And, ironically, the Obama administration may wind up being most remembered for its tremendous successes in space policy, a field that, as far as I know, doesn’t particularly interest President Obama.

On the space front generally, the Obama administration’s policies have substantially boosted the private space launch industry. Companies ranging from Virgin Galactic to Blue Origin to SpaceX and Xcor and many more are building rockets and experimenting with new ways to get into space cheaply.

But another company, Bigelow Aerospace, has been looking beyond the process of getting to outer space, to the question of what to do once we get there. Bigelow has decided that it wants to go to the moon, and — here’s the real news — has gotten the Federal Aviation Administration’s space office (Office of the Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation) to give it the go-ahead, and to state that the U.S. government will recognize and protect Bigelow’s right to create a base and to operate exclusively in that base’s vicinity.

This is, to paraphrase Vice President Joe Biden, a big deal. Back in 1967, the United States and the Soviet Union, each afraid that the other would reach the moon first and claim the whole thing, signed the Outer Space Treaty, which forbids the “national appropriation” of the moon and other celestial bodies like Mars. But the treaty didn’t ban private property rights or commercial exploitation in space, both of which are thus permitted. (A 1979 treaty tried to abolish private property rights and commercial enterprise in space, but nobody who mattered was willing to join it.)

Bigelow, of course, can’t engage in “national appropriation” because it’s not a nation. It’s also not exactly appropriating territory, just asking to use it without worrying about interference from others.

As company founder Robert Bigelow comments, it doesn’t mean that Bigelow owns the moon, or even a small piece of it: “It just means that somebody else isn’t licensed to land on top of you or land on top of where exploration and prospecting activities are going on, which may be quite a distance from the lunar station.” That’s right, and the 1967 treaty specifically requires nations active on the moon to recognize the rights of others there.

Still, while it’s not the same as a deed of title for a piece of the moon, it’s a very important step. Companies wanting to develop resources on the moon or elsewhere in space already face a lot of technical risks. But investors also worry about regulatory and political risks — will a government step in and shut them down, just as they look like they’re going to make money?

The FAA’s action here will help to reduce that risk, and that’s a very good thing, because Earth needs space development, and private enterprise is the best way to get it.

Earth needs space development because the resources on this planet are limited. The resources in the solar system, meanwhile, are for our purposes effectively unlimited. Reaching out to develop them means a future of growth for humanity, not a grim future of limits and struggles over pieces of a shrinking pie. Spreading human civilization beyond the Earth means that all humanity won’t be at risk of destruction in the face of an asteroid like the one that wiped out the dinosaurs, a plague, or a supervolcano eruption.

Private enterprise is the best way to get space development because, to last, space activity must pay its own way. And government programs have a lousy record of generating sustainable development, while private enterprise has a record of success.

The FAA’s new moon ruling is just the beginning, but it’s an important beginning. Enough so that it may well be the most important development of 2015, even if it’s not the one that got the most attention.

Glenn Harlan Reynolds, a University of Tennessee law professor, is the author of The New School: How the Information Age Will Save American Education from Itself.