Near space as a sui generis zone: A tri-layer approach of delimitation

The lack of a legal boundary between air space and outer space has not given rise to significant difficulties in the determination of applicable law with respect to traditional flight craft – aircraft and space objects, due to their separated sphere of activities. But the advent of new flight craft that are capable of operating in the intermediate “near space”, i.e. Near Space Vehicles, would render a clarification of their applicable law and the legal status of the zone requisite. For the purpose of balancing the right of exploration and use of near space and the security interest of subjacent States, this short note proposes a tri-layer approach of delimitation by which near space is established as a sui generis zone reserved exclusively for peaceful purposes, while the space below the upper operative limit of aircraft and that above the lower operative limit of space craft are air space and outer space respectively.     

Space law and policy 2010: The IISL–IAA symposium

The first of a new series of annual symposia organized by the IISL and the IAA, in partnership with others, was held in Washington, DC in May 2010. It examined the effect of space law on international civil, commercial and governmental space activities, with the emphasis on US activities in particular. The importance of developing appropriate legal mechanisms to assure the sustainability of space was highlighted, as was the need for the legal profession to explain the differences between various legal tools for space governance. With the growing involvement of new states in space, the current legal regime may need to be amended.     

Space law conference 2001 : Legal challenges and commercial opportunities for Asia

Many eminent space lawyers gathered in Singapore to attend the first space law conference to be held in South East Asia. Topics for discussion—which included commercialization of space activities and its effect on the needs of developing countries, and the legal issues of expanding communications and navigation satellite services—were of particular interest to the region. This report summarizes the presentations in each session and presents the conclusions and recommendations—such as the need for a legal instrument to regulate remote sensing—produced.     

The legal regime for private space tourism activities—An overview

“Space tourism” denotes any commercial activity that offers customers direct or indirect experience with space travel. Various models for space tourism activities exist including the use of an aircraft and/or spacecraft. The paper surveys some of the most important legal aspects relevant to space tourism activities, such as, the delimitation of airspace and outer space, the applicable legal regime and the definition of aircraft and space object, authorization, registration, liability, as well as the legal status of space tourists.     

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.     

Legal regulation of space activities in Russia

Space activities in the former USSR were regulated by numerous decisions and regulations, most of them inaccessible to the public. But despite its important space programme the state had no specific space legislation. The country's lawyers for years argued the necessity for a unified space act and the creation of a space agency. The authors of this article discuss the regulation of space activities since the break-up of the USSR. The situation is considered in two aspects: the legal regulation of cooperation within the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in the exploration and use of outer space, and the legal and organizational bases of space activities in Russia after the creation of the Russian Space Agency in 1992. Appropriate agreements and other legal documents are considered.     

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.     

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.     

Technical and legal issues surrounding space debris—India''s position in the UN

This article briefly presents the historical background, as seen by ISRO and India, to the growing problem of space debris. It describes the technical aspects of ISRO's activities in the field of space debris, and the grey areas in technical understanding, which may impede legal discussions. Analysis of the cost and technical aspects of reorbiting satellites from geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) is detailed, since this is an important area for India and other developing countries. The article also briefly describes ISRO's views of the applicability and relevance of the existing space treaties to a possible future legal regime for space debris. Debates are currently taking place in the UN and other multilateral fora on the subject of space debris and the situation is dynamic. The main aim of this article is to inform readers of ISRO's and India's position in the UN on the subject of space debris, in terms of its technical, political and legal aspects. Certain issues of importance from the legal point of view, though not of immediate urgency, are also discussed.     

Between heaven and earth: The legal challenges of human space travel

Since the first space object was launched into orbit in 1957, humankind has been engaged in a constant effort to realise ever more ambitious plans for space travel. Probably the single most important element in this ongoing evolution is the development of technology capable of transporting large numbers of passengers into outer space on a commercial basis. Within the foreseeable future, space will no longer be the sole domain of professionally trained astronauts or the exceptionally wealthy.The prospects for both suborbital and orbital private human access to space give rise to some interesting and difficult legal questions. It also opens up an exciting opportunity to develop an adequate system of legal regulation to deal with these activities. The existing international legal regimes covering air and space activities are not well suited to large-scale commercial access to space, largely because they were developed at a time when such activities were not a principal consideration in the mind of the drafters. The lack of legal clarity represents a major challenge and must be addressed as soon as possible, to provide for appropriate standards and further encourage (not discourage) such activities.This article will examine some of the more pressing legal issues associated with the regulation of space transportation of passengers on a commercial basis, seen in the light of Article 1 of the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, which states that the ‘exploration and use of outer space […] shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries […] and shall be the province of all mankind’. An appropriate balance must be found between the commercial and technological opportunities that will arise and the principles upon which the development of international space law have thus far been based.     

Towards an EU industrial policy for the space sector – Lessons from Galileo

The rise of the EU as an actor in the European and world space theatres, in its various roles as initiator, owner and operator of large-scale programmes such as Galileo and GMES, has raised a number of questions with regard to industrial policy. Based on the experiences from the Galileo programme's procurement round in the Full Operational Capability (FOC) phase and on the present discussions on space industrial policy within the EU, this paper argues that, whereas the EU's political ambitions in space have been discussed and become reasonably well defined, the specific policy tools and legal instruments to put them into practice are far from complete. First, an unequivocal industrial policy for the space sector needs to be defined that reconciles the Union's political ambitions with the economic specificities of the space sector. At present, this is a work in progress, with opinions diverging between member states. Second, both logically and temporally, these policy decisions need to be translated into legal instruments that allow their implementation. This implies the development of made-to-measure funding instruments and procurement rules. We conclude by emphasising the need for a sector-specific industrial policy as an integral part of the EU's space policy.     

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.     

Overview of the legal and policy challenges of orbital debris removal

Much attention has been paid recently to the issue of removing human-generated space debris from Earth orbit, especially following conclusions reached by both NASA and ESA that mitigating debris is not sufficient, that debris-on-debris and debris-on-active-satellite collisions will continue to generate new debris even without additional launches, and that some sort of active debris removal (ADR) is needed. Several techniques for ADR are technically plausible enough to merit further research and eventually operational testing. However, all ADR technologies present significant legal and policy challenges which will need to be addressed for debris removal to become viable. This paper summarizes the most promising techniques for removing space debris in both LEO and GEO, including electrodynamic tethers and ground- and space-based lasers. It then discusses several of the legal and policy challenges posed, including: lack of separate legal definitions for functional operational spacecraft and non-functional space debris; lack of international consensus on which types of space debris objects should be removed; sovereignty issues related to who is legally authorized to remove pieces of space debris; the need for transparency and confidence-building measures to reduce misperceptions of ADR as anti-satellite weapons; and intellectual property rights and liability with regard to ADR operations. Significant work on these issues must take place in parallel to the technical research and development of ADR techniques, and debris removal needs to be done in an environment of international collaboration and cooperation.     

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.     

Satellite communications and the Internet: implications for the outer space treaty

The speedily expanding Internet is in the process of transforming the technological, economic, and policy bases for nation-state regulation of telecommunications, including space-based satellite networks. Deployment of the packet-switched Internet has accelerated the liberalization of telecommunications markets and has led to far-reaching regulatory restructuring and policy shifts regarding state ownership and control of networks and information flows. As space-based GMPCS networks become integral parts of the globalizing Internet infrastructure, the state-centric legal paradigm requiring state “authorization and continuing supervision” of space activities by “non-governmental entities” stipulated under Article VI of the OST and associated treaties forming the outer space legal regime will be called increasingly into question. This paper examines the technological, economic/trade, and security issues that question whether the existing state-centric paradigm for regulating Internel-based GMPCS satellite systems will remain in legal phase with emerging liberalized regulatory regimes for terrestrial Internet-based infractructures.     

Kazakhstan's space policy in a changing national and global context

In the wake of its transition to a market economy and the political and social reforms that have accompanied this, Kazakhstan—home to the renowned Baikonur space complex—is experiencing greater demand for space services. This article reports on the drivers behind and main features of the country's current space program and analyzes Kazakahstan's space policy. Key priorities are capacity building, maximizing revenue from the lease of Baikonur, international cooperation, in particular with Russia, as a means of gaining know-how and entering the world space industry, developing Earth observations and broadcasting expertise, and placing the country's activities within a legal framework.     

How shall we live in space? Culture, law and ethics in spacefaring society

The US civilian space program is focused on planning for a new round of human missions beyond Earth orbit, to realize a ‘vision’ for exploration articulated by President George W. Bush. It is important to examine this ‘vision’ in the broader context of the global enterprise of 21st century space exploration. How will extending a human presence into the Solar System affect terrestrial society and culture? What legal, ethical and other value systems should govern human activities in space? This paper will describe the current environment for space policy making and possible frameworks for future space law, ethics and culture. It also proposes establishment of a World Space Conference to aid deliberations on the above.     

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.     

Intellectual property rights and space activities

On 5 and 6 December 1994, a two-day workshop was organised by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Centre for Space Law (ECSL) at ESA's Headquarters in Paris on the theme ‘Intellectual property rights and space activities: a worldwide perspective’. It was attended by some 90 participants and 16 papers were presented, analysing legal and policy issues with regard to intellectual property rights (IPRs) and space activities in a world context.     

Recent and future activities of the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs

This article discusses the development, and the current and future work, of the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs. The Office is active both as a source of information, education and training on space and as a secretariat to COPUOS and its Subcommittees; it also performs a role in the monitoring and implementation of various space-related legal treaties. Presently—and as part of the drive to use space to improve life on Earth—the bulk of its work is guided by the Vienna Declaration produced at UNISPACE III.