Accelerating investment in the final frontier: leveraging administrative approvals to bolster commercial space development

In the American economy, property rights are so fundamental to commercial activities that we often take them for granted. Without these fundamental tenets of society, development and commerce would be impossible. Try to imagine a farmer or entrepreneur investing in economic activity without clear rights to the very property that underpins their business. However, despite the obvious benefits of property rights to economic growth, we have failed to implement a regime in space that would provide similar incentives for progress and investment. If a robust and truly commercial ecosystem is to be developed on the moon, Mars and beyond, we cannot ignore the need to replicate the incentives that have worked so well here on Earth.