Please answer all questions in 3-5 sentences. The last post was incomplete in answers, so Im posting it again. I will give you a thumbs up and a good review if you answer this correctly and efficiently.

SCENARIO:

Eva Melon, the CEO and majority shareholder of OuterSpace Corp. (OSC) (incorporated in Delaware) founded the company to develop the technology needed to make commercial space flights available to the average citizen. She believed that space could be made available for colonization and that the energy and resources needed to sustain life in outer space could be harvested from other planets, such as Mars. Eva spent most of her substantial fortune investing in renewable energy and philanthropic endeavors aimed at making life more comfortable through technological breakthroughs. Because Evas mother was from the United States and Evas father was from France, she held citizenship in both countries. She frequently traveled back and forth operating OSC from her homes in both countries.

Evas most recent project for OSC involved the design and construction of a space vehicle. While Eva had initially planned on manufacturing the vehicle in the United States, she projected that she could save approximately $10 million dollars by manufacturing the vehicle in China. However, she wanted to launch the vehicle from a spaceport either in Russia or the United States. Several test flights were slated on the projects schedule for the years 2020 and 2021 which included a standard flight into low earth orbit, a docking with the international space station, and finally, a trip to Mars for natural resource sample collection. If successful in all the test flights, OSC planned on launching short commercial trips to space for individuals in 2023 and colonization flights to Mars some time thereafter.

To help secure funding for the research and development of the project, OSC also developed and produced solar panels for sale to the public, which were very similar to the ones that they would be using on their space vehicles for energy while in space. The panels were highly successful not only because of their technological brilliance, but also thanks to the publics fascination with Eva, who was portrayed in the media as the architect of the future. OSCs solar panels dominated the solar panel market, effectively shutting down other solar panel companies both domestically and abroad. Upset by the shift in the market, a competing foreign company, SolarX, filed a suit against OSC in federal court for violations of Section 1 of the Sherman Act.

Undeterred, OSC entered into agreement with a Chinese company to begin the manufacture of the space vehicle. However, upon learning of the agreement, the United States government immediately notified OSC that they were in violation of the U.S. Department of States International Traffic in Arms Regulation laws and that OSC must cease all transfer of technology and data related to the manufacturing of the vehicle. Concurrently, the Chinese government, in learning of the agreement and realizing the benefit of the technology to its national government, seized control of the manufacturing facility. OSC immediately filed suit in the United States against the manufacturing facility and Chinese government. It also brought an injunction against the U.S. government to prevent the enforcement of any federal regulation prohibiting OSC from using the Chinese company to manufacture space vehicles.

Knowing how long the lawsuits would take and wanting to stay on schedule, OSC opened a manufacturing facility in France to continue the construction of the space vehicle through a wholly-owned subsidiary of OSC (rather than an outside company).

The publicity surrounding OSCs struggle to get its vehicle built and operational was overwhelmingly in support of OSC. As a result, OSC hinted at solidifying its decision to launch the vehicle from the United States, at a spaceport which it would build in Texas, for use in all its testing operations.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

Answer each of the following questions in 3-5 sentences.

1. Should governments or private companies, who have developed the technology for space travel, be able to appropriate resources on celestial bodies (other planets, asteroids, etc.) such as minerals and metals? Why or why not?
2. Do the laws of nations allowing for the commercial recovery of a space resource including the ownership of any mineral obtained from a celestial body conflict with The Outer Space Treatys prohibition on governmental appropriation of celestial bodies?
3. Is the governments regulation of space craft, launches, and re-entries a function of national defense, health and safety, or a monopolization of space resources?
4. Should a suit by a foreign citizen against a private U.S. company for violations of international agreements on resource appropriation in space be permitted in a U.S. court?