Shaping a legal framework for the commercial use of outer space: recommendations and conclusions from Project 2001

Private and commercial activity in outer space still poses challenges to space law and policy. Within ‘Project 2001’—a legal research project by the University of Cologne's Institute of Air and Space Law and the German Aerospace Center (DLR)—six international expert working groups examined international and national laws, in order to identify gaps and, where necessary, propose improvements to the present legal framework for private space activities. The results were presented and discussed at an international colloquium in May 2001 in Cologne, Germany, where final conclusions have been drawn. This report presents a summary of the project's work and main conclusions, which are documented in full in a comprehensive book to be published in May 2002.     

A Study on the Trend of China's Space Legislation

The slow progress and lack of fundamental breakthroughs in legislative practices are an important subject for China's space legislation. Oriented by the idea to formulate China's space law as soon as possible, it is necessary to solve five key issues. In the national policy, it is needful not only to implement China's space policy and promote the development of the space industry in depth, but also to advance the deep integration of military and civil application in space field. In terms of legal orientation, three features should be reflected upon, including the functional integration of public and private laws, the balance of regulation by substantive and procedural laws, and the effective coordination of domestic and international laws. To this end, both top-level design and implementation should be paid close attention to in order to achieve significant progress in China's space legislation.     

Toward a paradigm shift in managing future global space exploration endeavors

This paper analyzes the objectives and activities of space exploration programs, and presents action plans and guidelines for a future sustainable global space exploration platform. While new cooperative mechanisms have emerged in recent decades, the now-unfolding era of global space exploration will lead to new models of cooperation, reflecting the legacy of partnerships and the evolution of a global endeavor. Consequently, the successful alignment of national and international stakeholders along lines drawn by commonality of purpose will be crucial to achieve a basis for marshalling sufficient resources for ambitious space projects, and to create necessary new political, economic, and legal frameworks. For the development of a successful global space exploration program, traditional approaches may need to be supplanted by a new paradigm including focus on information exchange, organizational knowledge, and human capital – as practiced in high-performance organizations (HPOs) – that go well beyond the current international working groups and multinational space efforts.     

The use of remote sensing satellites for verification in international law

This paper examines the use of remote sensing satellites for verification in public international law. Verification always depends on the specific agreement or mission to be verified. There are no general framework rules: the means of verification and the verifying authorities vary from agreement to agreement and from mission to mission. Rapid technological development and the intensifying international cooperation have led to an increasing number of international verification missions. Whereas, in the past, verification was at the heart of intelligence and national services, the commercialization of the remote sensing industry and the information revolution have supported the creation of joint initiatives in this field. Traditionally, verification is associated with disarmament and arms control treaties, but the paper will underline that this is only one field of application for verification missions. It is important to note that there is no binding international regime specifically addressing such activity. The lack of legal certainty in this field also applies to the use of remotely sensed data as evidence in legal proceedings.     

Legal analysis of Sea Launch license: National security and environmental concerns

This paper analyzes the national security and environmental concerns surrounding the Sea Launch consortium's international license from a legal perspective. The growing market demand for a more affordable, reliable, and convenient commercial satellite launching service has led to the idea of Sea Launch—launching satellites from the sea near the Equator. However, this can pose potential conflicts between national security and foreign policy interests, and between environmental conservation and economic growth because of the international technology development issues around launching from the sea. This paper illustrates a case for balancing such multiple constraints via legal interpretation. The analysis is conducted in reference to 49 U.S.C. § 70101–70119 Commercial Space Launch Activities and 42 U.S.C. § 4321–4345 National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969. The paper also examines weather the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea is binding on Sea Launch operations. Although the scope of this paper is limited mostly to the US law and the national security and environmental aspects of Sea Launch, it provides a useful example for policy making of an international collaborative technology development project.     

Surreal estate: addressing the issue of ‘Immovable Property Rights on the Moon’

At a time when scientific and commercial interest in the Moon is being reinvigorated it is becoming fashionable for ordinary individuals to ‘buy’ plots on the lunar surface, with the ‘vendors’ arguing that an absence of specific prohibition of individual private activity in space makes such action legal. It is therefore time for the legal community to address this situation by investigating just how legal such activity is—and bringing their findings to the attention of governments. This can be done through an examination of the relationship between national law and international space law, of the provisions of international space law—especially Article 2 of the Outer Space Treaty—and by answering any claims to private ownership of immovable property. Aside from the fact that individuals appear to be being duped, the pursuit of property claims on the Moon could impede future activities aimed at benefiting society.     

Commercialization of space activities: Legal requirements constituting a basic incentive for private enterprise involvement

Commercialization of space activities requires a legal framework for private investors and entrepreneurs in order to promote and develop this sector of industry into a fully-fledged commercial enterprise. Apart from the already existing international public legal framework of space law, rules should be created to provide a level playing field for all interested parties. These rules should point to transparency of risks and liabilities and liberalization of the various space market segments. Another legal instrument will be that of dispute resolution among participants in the arena of space activities. For the more distant future the Moon Agreement should be reassessed in the light of resources exploration, management and exploitation against the background of private enterprise involvement.     

Towards an effective and adequately verifiable PPWT

The 2008 Russia–China proposal to the Conference on Disarmament on preventing space weapons has attracted wide attention. Lengthy debates have been made on the need for such a treaty and for two of its most disputed elements, namely prohibition of ground-based anti-satellite weapons and verification. This article argues that, regardless of verifiability, such a treaty is urgently needed for the benefit of international peace and security, and for the security interests of spacefaring countries. But in order to serve these purposes effectively, the treaty should at least explicitly prohibit testing, deployment and use of space-based weapons and ground-based anti-satellite weapons. Given the necessary political will, it is feasible to “adequately verify” these constraints. The verification regime should permit the incorporation of new measures in the future, combine international technical means and national technical means, combine remote-sensing technologies and on-site inspections, and be complemented by transparency and confidence-building measures.     

The aerospace plane : Its legal and political future

Recent progress in the development of an aerospace plane calls for consideration of an applicable legal regime. Since the aerospace plane is by definition a hybrid vehicle, it is unclear whether international air space law or outer space law should be applied to it. This article outlines the practical considerations affecting the debate and compares the existing legal principles and rules that might be applied. The author argues that a new allocative theory, which would take account of the purposes of a hybrid vehicle and its actual effects, is needed to determine whether air space law or outer space law should be applied to it.     

Ukrainian national space law from an international perspective

As one of the three former Soviet republics engaged in space activities, the Ukraine has had to formulate new national space legislation as a means of demonstrating a responsible attitude to the international security system, of harmonising its legislation with that of its international political and economic partners and of creating clear guidelines for investors. This article presents the background to the formation of Ukrainian space law, describes some of the new laws enacted and discusses these within the context of international space law. Particular attention is paid to the legal regulation of commercial activities, to dual-use issues and to the effect of international cooperation on Ukrainian space law development.     

Space tourism, private spaceflight and the law: Key aspects

The arrival of ‘space tourism’, or more appropriately ‘private spaceflight’, requires the law of outer space to change and adapt to this revolutionary development, as deriving precisely from the principled private participation in these activities. After defining the proper concepts, this paper discusses key legal aspects of authorisation and supervision, liability and registration, and how they reflect and impact on space tourism. Key legal aspects related to certification of craft, crew and passengers, while not yet much articulated at the international level will also be touched upon precisely in order to demonstrate that the law could well be driven first and foremost by national legislative interests on a domestic level, before (possibly) reaching the level of international law. The possible use of air law or even adventure tourism law to regulate relevant activities is also touched on.     

Space for celestial symphonies? Towards the establishment of international radio quiet zones

The growth of low- and medium-Earth orbit mobile satellite communications poses a threat to radio astronomers which could be mitigated by the establishment of international radio quiet zones (IRQZs), where communications traffic is managed (not eliminated) to allow radio astronomy to continue. Using the prototype of national such zones in the USA, this article explains how the system would work and discusses the international legal parameters that would bound it, drawing on current aerospace, outer space and high seas legislation. Precedents for an IRQZ—Exclusive Economic Zones, denuclearised zones and the Antarctic regime—are also examined.     

A European military space community: Reality or dream?

Europe is faced with several essential policy decisions with regard to the exploitation of space technology. Important issues are: the relations between civilian and military uses of outer space, employment opportunities, industrial and commercial interests, European security and international stability, regional and international cooperation. Concerted action is required for political reasons and in order to achieve the necessary scientific, technological and economic critical masses. Another major policy issue is, therefore, whether Europe should expand its space venture in the framework of a European military space community as proposed by France, through national or bilateral programmes, by participating in the US SDI research, or through NATO, the Independent European Programme Group, the Western European Union, or the European Space Agency.     

Arms control and disarmament in space: the rough road to Vienna 1984: Part I

This article examines the international legal and diplomatic questions relating to arms control and disarmament, focusing on space-based activities. These relate importantly to the development of anti-satellite satellites (ASATs) and ballistic missile defence systems (BMDs). Part I of the article examines the goal of ‘peaceful uses’ of outer space as elaborated in national policies and in international fora, the debate that has has taken place at the international level over the meaning and definition of peaceful purposes, legal manoeuvres, particularly in the UN, and US responses, and recent Soviet initiatives relating to space militarization. Part II will appear in the next issue, and will consider the US Presidential-Congressional dialogue on these questions and recent Presidential initiatives.     

The benefits of remote sensing for energy policy

A strong remote sensing regime is a necessary component of any contemporary national or international energy policy. Energy is essential to the functioning of modern industrial society, and as such it is the responsibility of governments to produce sound national energy policies in order to ensure stable economic growth, ecologically responsible use of energy resources and the health and safety of citizens. Comprehensive, accurate and timely remote sensing data can aid decision making on energy matters in several areas. This paper looks at the benefits that can be realized in resource exploration, weather forecasting and environmental monitoring. Improvements in the technology of remote sensing platforms would be of great value to buyers of energy, sellers of energy and the environment. Furthermore, the utility of such information could be enhanced by efforts of government agencies to communicate it more effectively to the end-user. National energy policies should thus include investments not only in satellite system hardware to collect data, but also in the services required to interpret and distribute the data.     

The future of Earth observations in the USA

Earth observations is a controversial subject because of the diversity of interests involved, but one that should not be ignored, as is currently the case, by the US government. This article describes the changing character of Earth observations and the opportunities it provides for economic benefit and national and international economies of scale. Such opportunities can best be met by the formation of an international Earth observations body, in which the USA, represented by an expanded EOSAT, should play a leading role.     

Basic space science and developing countries

Basic science — including space science — is vital for national development, but developing countries often meet obstacles to participation in the international scientific community. This can be mitigated by international cooperation, particularly in the field of education. The author calls for a concerted effort to increase such cooperation regionally, internationally and bilaterally; international organizations should also become involved. Various forms of cooperation are suggested and UN efforts in the promotion of basic space science are described.     

Keeping up with remote sensing and GI advances—Policy and legal perspectives

Technological advances in remote sensing capabilities, wider participation of commercial firms and the possibilities of ‘processing’ spatial data to create value-added information have given rise to a range of policy and legal issues in the geographic information (GI) field. How far satellite images can still be considered a ‘public good’, conflicts between commercial and national interests is becoming a major issue, especially where security is concerned, sovereignty and the rights of sensed states, shutter control vs transparency is debated, data access, IPR and infringement of privacy becoming more relevant are all discussed. At the same time, the societal and public good of GI is well accepted with innumerable national and international examples. It is clear that societies would greatly benefit from the proper use of GI. A multilateral debate to formulate a GI policy that will take account of these while ensuring that the full benefits of remote sensing are available to society is called for.     

Globalization and commercialization of satellite broadcasting: current issues

The issues of freedom of information and protection of national sovereignty have been brought to the fore by the global spread of satellite broadcasting. This article discusses the issues and the international legal strategies that have been adopted to deal with them. It is suggested that the European model—in which states have no right to interfere with reception but broadcasters are obliged to fill 50% of their content with European programs—presents a blueprint that others could follow.     

The use of remote sensing to support the application of multilateral environmental agreements

There is a growing realisation of the increasingly varied and interesting possibilities for the use of Earth observation data to ensure compliance with international obligations generally, and treaty obligations in particular. Most examinations of the application of Earth observation data to monitoring states’ compliance with international obligations focus on the environmental sector. This paper proposes the use of remote sensing satellites for the support of multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs), especially land monitoring MEAs such as the Convention on Biological Diversity (1992) and the Kyoto Protocol (1997). It discusses the uses of remote sensing for treaty implementation or enforcement in general, and the admissability of satellite imagery as legal proof, before examining how Earth observation-derived data could be of benefit to specific MEAs. As sensors become increasingly sophisticated the use of remote sensing in this area should grow but it needs to be supported by its more widespread legal recognition as proof.