There is also another strong reason for developing clearly defined space laws, says Prof Crawford: "For scientific reasons, some areas of the Moon are sites of special scientific interest and should be preserved and protected from commercial activities."
As the Earth's population grows and more raw materials are required to maintain high living standards, it is arguably more ethical and environmentally sensitive to mine those materials from celestial bodies with no existing habitats and no bio-diversity to disrupt - as opposed to continuing to over-exploit this planet.
This raises a further issue: if space mining does become a reality through private companies like Planetary Resources and Moon Express, does their work contradict the Outer Space Treaty? Can they justify that they are doing this for the benefit and interest of all countries and mankind?
Space wars
"Our daily lives depend on space. Every time you make a phone call, financial transaction or use Google Maps - it is dependent on satellite signals. In times of conflict, it would be easy to target those satellites. Space has the potential to be the new battlefield," said Dr Cassandra Steer, executive director at the McGill Institute for Air and Space Law.
Despite the myth that outer space is a lawless "wild west", in fact all of international law applies there.
So, if these laws already apply, what's the problem?