An Annotated Bibliography For A Research Paper On
How To Ensure Equity In Commercial Exploitation Of Outer Space Resources

Reference:

Lee, R. J. (2012). Law and regulation of commercial mining of minerals in outer space. New York; Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer.

Lee’s book discusses various aspects of exploitation of outer space mineral resources. Different from other authors, Lee focused his discussion on commercial exploitation and proposed a comprehensive legal framework to regulate such activities in order to benefit the mankind. His book targets a wide range of readers so there is a lot of background information about technological and policy development. Lee himself is also professional lawyer who is specialized in space law, so his book s a reliable source of information. I am able to use this work as a good reference book to discuss how ethical theories such as deontology can be applied to commercial exploitation of outer space resources.

Livingston, D. (2003). A code of ethics for conducting business in outer space. Space Policy, 19(2), 93-94.

Livingston’s article presents a list of code of ethics for commercial operations in outer space and serves as an independent guideline for companies that want to venture into space. His guideline provides me with a good tool to evaluate different approaches that I want to propose in my paper using ethical theories. I believe the ethical consideration is the most important factor to ensure equity of commercial exploitation of celestial resources. Livingston is the founder of a talk radio show called Space Show, which aims at increasing space commerce and developing space tourism. His long experience in the industry should enable him to provide a reliable and reasonable guideline for sustainable businesses in space. This guideline is a good starting point for me to bring in various ethical theories in my argument.
Pop, V., & Jakhu, e. b. R. (2008). Who owns the moon?: Extraterrestrial aspects of land and mineral resources ownership. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands.

Pop in his book presented a very interesting topic about the ownership of land, real estate and movable goods on the celestial bodies. His discussions focused on rights. He argued “securing property rights would be more beneficial to humankind than keeping the extraterrestrial realms undeveloped.” Pop is a famous space lawyer who made contribution to development of space property rights. His unique points of view give me a lot of food for thought. I will develop my argument about relationship between equity and ownership based on his study. However, his study is mainly based on Moon, so I will need to do more research to find about ownership issue on other celestial bodies.
Tennen, L. I. (2010). Towards a new regime for exploitation of outer space mineral resources. Nebraska Law Review, 88(4), 794.

Similar to other authors, Tennen in his article also recongised that current international space agreements were not enough to regulate the outer space resource exploitation activities. He urged for a new regime under which nations could cooperate with one another to establish a transparent system to explore celestial resources. Tennen’s article is a good summary of different opinions. He also gave his own insights based on various ethical and political considerations. I will use his article to discuss equity problems among different nations. Tennen is a respected expert in space law and co-author of Registration Convention (Volume II), so the information presented in his article should be credible.

Tronchetti, F. (2009). The Exploitation of Natural Resources of the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies. Boston: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers

In his book, Tronchett comprehensively examined 1967 Outer Space Treaty & the 1979 Moon Agreement and identify their insufficiency in regulating natural resource exploitation in outer space. He proposed a more rigorous legal regime based on the existing agreements and took into account of various ethical considerations. Because he is an expert in Space Law, his book greatly helps me understand the current legal environment of outer space resource exploitation and provide me with a lot of thoughts on how to narrow the gap between developed and developing countries. It will give me a good starting point to develop my own argument about equity in commercial exploitation and use ethical theories to examine various approaches.

Wihlborg, Clas G., and Per Magnus Wijkman. (1981). "Outer space resources in efficient and equitable use: New frontiers for old principles." Journal of Law and Economics (1981): 23-43.

The paper discusses how the market efficiency principles that are proven effective on the earth can also apply to the to outer space resource allocation to prepare the growing demand for such resources in the near future. The authors advocate that free market mechanism will be suitable to ensure the equitable use of space resources. Dr. Clas Wihlborg is a world-renowned professor in international business and finance. His experience makes his paper a viable solution to the outer space resource allocation. My research proposal will also focus on equity in commercial exploitation, so his paper will provide me with a lot of insights and knowledge in this field. However, the authors did not use specific ethical framework to evaluate their conclusions, so it may limit my discussion of this paper in terms of ethical aspect.