Legal Frameworks for Asteroid Mining: Techno-Economic Impacts and Regulatory Needs

The current space law does not clarify the asteroid mining problem enough.This paper presents a techno-economic analysis to show how legal certainty impacts the profitability and overall investment in asteroid mining projects.Our analysis reveals that clear legal frameworks reduce perceived investment risk significantly.We have introduced a financial model that demonstrates how different legal scenarios, specifically those offering clear frameworks and benefit-sharing mechanisms, lead to positive Net Present Values.We thereby encourage fair resource distribution and opportunities within a regulated system, as an environment with high legal uncertainty results in negative Net Present Values, and show significant financial risk.