BTW-If NASA succeeds and sets up a base and mining facilities on the moon, I wonder what they'd do if China set up a base right next to ours, put a small fence around our base and told us not to trespass. I have a feeling this would cause quite an uproar and we would assert our national sovereignty, OST be damned!
A robot might be physical presence if the countries concerned agree on that. Most space development would be robotic, especially asteroid mining. It wouldn't be profitable if the firm had to provide a manned presence at one or more asteroids just to hold a claim.