Description
his work surveys the various current plans for the exploitation of interplanetary bodies. It then analyzes them in the context of renewed great power competition. It posits that these efforts, both private and national, are likely to further reinforce competition amongst the space powers as they look to increase their relative power vis a vis their adversaries. This is rooted in the reality that the plans as they stand have the potential to establish de facto national claims of sovereignty on interplanetary bodies for the purposes of economic and colonial activity. Resting upon insights gained from corporate and state-driven colonial activity of the past, it then explores how this has the potential to result in an interplanetary “land-grab” amongst space powers as colonization efforts begin in earnest. It concludes by outlining the opportunities for space powers looking to exploit the cosmos for strategic and economic gain while also addressing the inherent risks to international stability such a future seems set to entail.
