Going To Space Together

Pierre Reuter, office managing partner of Hogan Lovells Luxembourg, interviews Scot Anderson about the recent business and legal cooperation between the USA and Luxembourg regarding space activities.

Pierre Reuter: Scot, you are the global head of energy and natural resources of Hogan Lovells located in Denver and you have a focus on space mining. Can you tell Delano's readers about the US-Luxembourg cooperation on space activities?

Scot Anderson: On 10 May 2019, the United States and Luxembourg signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) relating to cooperation on space-related activities and issues. The MOU is potentially quite significant for businesses, research institutions, and policymakers interested in space activities, and particularly, in the utilization of space resources.

The joint press release announcing the MOU notes that the MOU will "serve as a vehicle to establish a more formal dialogue, sharing of expertise and exchange of information." It will promote the growth of the space industries in both nations "through new commercial and investment opportunities," and will allow the nations to coordinate on policy issues. The MOU also seeks to strengthen collaboration between the nations through joint projects, and facilitates the involvement of research entities and the private sector.

Pierre Reuter: This MOU is not surprising regarding both countries' commitment to develop this sector, is it?

Scot Anderson: In a statement about the MOU, Luxembourg's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy, Étienne Schneider, recognized that the U.S. and Luxembourg lead the international community in having been the first nations to create legal frameworks which recognize the use of space resources. He heralded the MOU as further progress towards "enhancing international cooperation" through Luxembourg's space resources initiative.

When working on a mining project, a mining company wants "security of tenure." In other words, the mining company wants to know that it has the legal right to extract the...

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