Pella vilya: Near earth objects—Planetary defence through the regulation of resource utilisation

Reactions to near earth objects (NEOs) in the past decade have run the gamut from expectations of Armageddon-type scenarios to Eureka moments of revolutionary scientific ideas. Concerns over the potentially devastating effects of an unmitigated collision jostle with forecasts of untold economic returns from the utilisation of NEO resources. Drawing from recent analogies and examples from the field of international environmental law, this paper proposes the development of a legal framework for the regulation of NEO resource utilisation. The proposed legal framework also includes a mechanism to ensure the political will and economic investment necessary for technological advances in planetary defence. By twinning the threats and opportunities presented by NEOs, this paper also analyses the position of theme-specific space law development in the overall legal framework of space exploration and traffic management.