Luxembourg (Europe)

Luxembourg is in a particularly good position to lead this global effort because it is a prosperous nation with an extensive space heritage, dating back to 1985 when the government helped form SES, Europe’s first private satellite operator, said Pete Worden, the former NASA Ames Director who chairs the Breakthrough Prize Foundation.

Luxembourg also attracts less suspicion than a superpower would if it called for revision of the Outer Space Treaty. With its 1,000-person military force, it is “unlikely that Luxembourg is going to be regarded as a threat to anybody,” Worden, a member of the SpaceResources.lu advisory board, said during the April 12 panel discussion.

Worden said he is honored to advise the board because mining space resources are essential to “human expansion into the solar system.” Asteroids could become an important source of water to support life and provide fuel for exploration missions. In addition, asteroid metals could help pay for further exploration because they are valuable.

“It is easy to calculate that even a relatively small metal asteroid has enough platinum group metals to be worth — and I use a very technical term — a bazillion dollars or Euros,” Worden said. “I don’t know what the exchange rate is right now, but they are roughly similar. That’s why investment in Luxembourg is a good deal right now for Americans.”