[cripplecreek]

Treaties which, by their nature, make anything beyond LEO for a private US company not only unprofitable - since they would have to give whatever they find or any profits to the UN, but also illegal.

That is exactly what the people who are cheering this privatization decision need to understand. Its a completely meaningless decision for anyone interested in anything more than space taxis. If Obama had announced that we were pulling out of the international space treaty I would be cheering it as well.

[PIF]

Thanks cripplecreek -— good to see someone with some knowledge about the legalities involved with private company space ventures. I think I had some disscussion awhile back on this subject and the commenter said something like private companies will ignore - via their friends in high places - the UN treaty.

Good luck with that, I think I replied.