An extension to the “Deep Range” post below.

A NASA (Or ESA, or Chicom, or Russian) probe of the asteroid belt (or the Oort Cloud, or the Kuiper Belt) sends back images of a spacecraft (A Bracewell Probe). It’s obviously been there for a long time, maybe millions of years, and it is no longer functional, it heavily damaged from meteoroid collisions and other natural processes. The news leaks to the press almost immediately, and becomes world-wide knowledge.

The wreck is clearly an alien artifact, and it is enormous, the size of an aircraft carrier (And there may be others!). Even in its decrepit state, it must be full of extraterrestrial technology, perhaps even recoverable data. It is phenomenally valuable, finding it cost a lot of money, but exploiting it will cost a great deal more. The potential profits are incalculable.

How should this treasure (or Pandora’s Box) be “developed”? In secret, by government or military? By an international consortium managed by the UN? By private industry, bidding for prospecting claims? By whoever gets there first? Whoever shows up with enough lawyers, guns and money? Who decides how that exploitation will be carried out? What are the moral and legal issues?

Remember, this is a prize people will be willing to go to war for…