House Subcommittee Considers Space Mining
House Subcommittee Considers Space Mining
Critical Mineral Supply Chain is in Jeopardy, Chairman Says
The U.S. House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations recently held an oversight hearing on mineral supply chains and the next space race.
"As a country, we must accept that we are in the midst of a new space race, and we must take steps to secure the celestial mineral supply chain to provide a stable future for the United States and the free world."
Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ)
Minerals like copper, lithium, cobalt and dozens of others are integral to our modern way of life. They are used in almost all high-tech applications, including smartphones, satellites and missile defense systems. They are also essential for the function of renewable energy technologies, electric vehicles and battery storage. The global demand for minerals is expected to rise exponentially in the decades ahead.
Notably, according to the World Bank, mineral demand will increase by nearly 500 percent by 2050. The global demand for minerals specifically used in electric vehicle batteries such as lithium and graphite will increase by even more, up to 4,000 percent in the decades ahead.
Exponential growth in global mineral demand and China’s dominance of mineral supply chains threatens America’s national security and economic interests. While there is uncertainty over the feasibility of space mining, accelerating investments from our foreign adversaries, notably China, to extract minerals from celestial bodies exacerbates America’s fragile mineral supply chain.
America must take necessary steps to secure our mineral supply chains by leading in our position on both mining and territorial control over expanding resources beyond Earth's orbit. Today's hearing was a chance for committee members to hear from experts on the future of space mining and learn more about how this emerging field will change the future of our critical mineral supply chain.
"Today’s subcommittee hearing on mining in space is more important than some may realize. Our competitors, including China, are far ahead of us. Mining in space is coming and the United States better be prepared," said Subcommittee Chairman Paul Gosar (R-AZ).
"While it is overdue for the United States to unleash domestic mineral development, America must also prepare to lead the world in the next frontier: Space Mining. As a country, we must accept that we are in the midst of a new space race, and we must take steps to secure the celestial mineral supply chain to provide a stable future for the United States and the free world."
However, in her opening statement, Subcommittee ranking Democrat Melanie Stansbury (D-NM) questioned the need for such a hearing at this time. "I do have to say, it's the last week of Congress. We're about to gavel out in two weeks. We still haven't passed a real budget for the federal government, we still haven't addressed the real issues that are immediately in front of us ... and so it is a bit strange, I think for this committee, which is an oversight committee, to be holding a hearing on space mining, based on an aspiration that is possibly decades down the line," she said.
Among those asked to testify before the subcommittee was Eric Sundby, co-founder and CEO of Terra Space, and Executive Director of the Space Force Association. He said that America needs to be aware of challenges presented by China and Russia. "Given actions here on Earth, the potential for great power competition in the space domain, particularly over space resources, is not on the horizon, it has already arrived," Sundby said.
He reminded the committee that there are 50 minerals that have been identified as being critical to the country's economic and national security, and those minerals have been found to exist on the moon and in the asteroid belt. "Our ability to access and utilize these critical minerals on Earth is threatened, as China currently controls 60 percent of production, and 85 percent of processing capacity. This threat to our mineral supply chain calls for new and innovative ways of looking at resources from a national perspective, with space resources being front and center."
Michelle Hallon is the Executive Director of the Center for Air and Space Law at the University of Mississippi, Co-founder and president of For All Moonkind, and the founder and executive director of the Institute of Space Law and Ethics. She agreed that the U.S. is engaged in a new kind of space race. "This race is not about prestige. It's about access to resources that can benefit the lives of all Americans, all humanity. And it's about the governance framework that will support the management of these resources and all future space activities," Hallon said
"Space is not a global commons, but nor is it a lawless wonderland. However, the international regime governing extraterrestrial activities was not designed for space resource utilization. We must accelerate our efforts to assure continued access to extraterrestrial resources. This hearing is a first, but significant small step."
Congressional committees often hold such hearings to gather information on issues prior to creating legislation.