THE LAW AND OUTER SPACE: Who’s in Charge of Outer Space? All extraterrestrial activity today is governed by a 50-year-old, Cold War-era treaty. Will governments agree on an update before the final frontier becomes the Wild West?

In February, Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo passed its third glide-flight test, putting it on pace to offer suborbital space tourism by the end of 2018. In March, Goldman Sachs announced to investors that a single asteroid containing $25 billion to $50 billion of platinum could be mined by a spacecraft costing only $2.6 billion—less than a third of what has been invested in Uber.

“While the psychological barrier to mining asteroids is high,” the Goldman report concludes, “the actual financial and technological barriers are far lower.” In April, NASA selected Trans Astronautica Corp., an aerospace company based in Lake View Terrace, Calif., for $3.25 million in technology study grants. Among TransAstra’s NASA-approved projects: an asteroid-hunting telescope whose stated mission is “to start a gold rush in space.” . . .

One of the biggest modern-day sticking points stems from Article VI, which states that nongovernmental entities—i.e. private businesses—must receive “authorization and continuing supervision” from their country of origin. Article VI was originally a compromise between the communist Soviets, who wanted to ban off-planet commercial activity, and the Americans, who insisted that space be open for business. “The Soviets said, ‘If you Americans are so crazy that you want those private-sector activities to be permitted, go ahead,’ ” says Frans von der Dunk, a professor of space law at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. “ ‘But you’re responsible for their doings, and if they cause damage, you have to pay as a government.’ ” . . .

Several countries have expressed concern that asteroid or moon mining will be open to only a few wealthy nations and corporations, leaving many on Earth behind. “The widening gap of poverty is a weapon of mass destruction,” said José Monserrat Filho of the Brazilian Association of Air and Space Law. Filho echoed the language of the Outer Space Treaty when he voiced his concerns at the March meeting of the U.N.’s Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. “More than ever our planet needs for outer space activities to be carried out for the benefit of all mankind,” he said. Delegates from Russia and several European countries voiced similar concerns at the meeting and requested an international regulatory regime to govern space resource extraction. Article II expressly forbids any national appropriation or claim of sovereignty. The question the world now faces is whether you can mine an asteroid without owning it.

Yes. Next question? And, honestly, the Wild West worked out pretty well.