Hommage to Professor Vladimír Kopal
adminSLIISL commemorates the late Professor Vladimír Kopal, a pioneer of space law and policy, on the occasion of his 95th birthday
On Monday, 14 August 2023, the International institute of Space Law commemrorated the 95th birthday of th late Professor Vladimír Kopal, a Czechoslovak and Czech pioneer of international space law and policy.
He was born on 14 August 1928, in Jaroměř, a town in the North-East of Bohemia. His father was a local chronicler and teacher. It is not known to everyone that he was distantly related to Professor Zdeněk Kopal, a renowned Czechoslovak and Czech astronomer and astrophysicist active mostly in the UK and the USA. After graduating from the Faculty of Law of the Charles University in Prague, Vladimír Kopal worked in the Department of International Law at the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. Within this department which later became part of the Institute of State and Law of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, he developed his deep interest in the law of outer space, then a new sub-area of international public law [1]. Already in 1962, he served as the national representative in the first meeting of the Legal Subcommittee of the UN COPUOS. From then on, he participated in numerous sessions of COPUOS and its Legal Subcommittee in New York, Geneva, and Vienna. Between 1999–2003 and 2008-2009, he served as its Chairman.
In the 1960s, the UN General Assembly invited him to give a lecture on the Progressive Development of International Space Law in the Assembly Hall in New York, attended among others also by Wernher von Braun. On the 20 December 1965, Resolution No A/RES/2099(XX) on Technical assistance to promote the teaching, study, dissemination, and wider appreciation of international law, adopted by the General Assembly at its 20th session on 20 December 1965, included this lecture into a worldwide educational program for training specialists in the field of international law. The UN Office of Legal Affairs recorded the original lecture in 2008 and made it accessible online. Vladimír Kopal has been the only Czechoslovak and Czech expert on international law honored by such a gesture.
His expertise and experience led him to the position of a UN civil servant. From 1983 to 1988, he served as Chief of the UN Outer Space Affairs Division [2]. Succeeding Professor Luboš Perek, Vladimír Kopal became one of the two Czechoslovaks appointed to the highest executive position within the present UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (UN OOSA).
In parallel to his functions in the United Nations, Vladimír Kopal was an active member of several international academic and scientific organizations. In some cases, he even drafted their founding documents. His legacy is still present in the International Institute of Space Law (IISL) and the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) where he served as a General Counsel and was recognized as a member of the Hall of Fame [3]. Professor Kopal was member of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA), the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR), the European Centre for Space Law (ECSL),the International Law Association (ILA), and the „Société française pour le droit international“. He was also appointed honorary member of the „Deutsche Gesellschaft für Luft- und Raumfahrt - Lilienthal-Oberth“.
Vladimír Kopal was the author of an extensive number of publications. His manuscripts and a broad collection of non-digitalized official documents of the United Nations related to space law are stored in the Masaryk Institute, and the Archive of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague. For his dedication to the international cooperation in space activities, he received several awards - the Hermann Oberth Medal of the German Society for Aeronautics and Astronautics, the 1992 medal of the IAF containing materials flown abroad Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-42), the spacecraft Soyuz and a meteorite recovered in Australia, the medallion containing metal from the spaceship Columbia and the landing module Eagle collected during the Apollo 11 mission, as well as a commemorative object containing particles from the solar panels powering the Hubble space telescope between April 1990 and December 1993 [4].
Besides his international career, he lectured international public law at the Faculty of Law of the Charles University in Prague between 1991 and 1995, and at the Faculty of Law of the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen between 1995 and 2013. Former colleagues and students remember the inspiring discussions with Vladimír Kopal who truly dedicated his professional life to the development of international space law and policy. His last years were darkened by the sudden death of his wife, Vlasta, his long-life support, true friend and wonderful companion. The last months of his life were spent in his cousin's house in Nový Bydžov. When he was about to resuming his research and pedagogical activities, he suddenly passed away on 27 January 2014.
The legacy of Vladimír Kopal for the research in astronomy and astrophysics
International space law and space policy, in which Luboš Perek and Vladimír Kopal were recognized experts worldwide, provide interdisciplinary outputs for the recent research activities in astronomy and astrophysics, not only in the Czech Republic. Apart from the subjects already intensely elaborated by Vladimír Kopal and Luboš Perek, such as the development of the international framework preventing space debris, or the sustainable use of the geostationary orbit, their archives and legacies open avenues for future research, such as dedicated to dark and quiet skies, as well as the exploration and use of outer space for the benefit and in the interest of all humankind.
The Czech astronomers and astrophysicists have been drawing attention to the negative impacts of artificial light at night for many years. Already in 2001, a study group on Dark Skies has been established by the Czech Astronomical Society which focuses on data collection about light pollution [5]. It manages and promotes three dark parks in the Czech Republic – Izera Dark Sky Park, Dark Sky Beskydy, and Manětín Dark Sky Park. On the international level, the preservation of quiet and dark skies for science and society are highly topical issues followed by research and political organizations, including the IISL, the European Southern Observatory, the International Astronomical Union, and the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs. The debate focuses on the minimalization of the negative impacts of satellite mega-constellations and artificial light at night to the astronomical and astrophysical research, as well as to the fauna, flora, and human health [6].
The exploration and use of outer space for the benefit and in the interests of all countries constitute the second interlink between the legacy of Professor Vladimír Kopal and recent projects, such as the project „Space for the Mankind“ carried out by the Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences [7]. The principle of exploration and use of outer space for the benefit and in the interests of all countries is a central principle of international public space law that was embedded in the 1963 UN Declaration of Legal Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space. The interpretation of this principle has been a highly contested topic in political and legal debates in international academic and political organizations. The Hague International Space Resources Governance Working Group was one of the international entities dealing with this principle recently, particularly in relation to the exploration and exploitation of space resouces [9]. The group formulated several building blocks for developing an international space resource activity framework. Professor Kopal would be surely very happy to follow and to contribute to these debates and particularly the development of an international regime on space resources carried out by the Legal Subcommittee of the UNCOPUOS.
About the authors
Professor Mahulena Hofmann, former doctoral student of professor Kopal, is affiliated with the Faculty of Law of the Charles University in Prague; at present, she is holder of the SES Chair on Space, SatCom and Media Law of the University of Luxembourg.
Miloslav Machoň graduated from the University of West Bohemia, Pilsen, and the Prague University of Economics and Business. Then, he was appointed postdoctoral researcher at the Northeastern University, Boston, and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
References
[1] Hofmannová, Mahulena (2014). MORS VENIT VELOCITER: Za Vladimírem Kopalem Právník. 4/2014, s. 330-333.
[2] Lála, Petr (2014): A Memory of Professor Vladimír Kopal, the International Space Law Pioneer. Czech Space Office, 7. 2. 2014, available at: https://www.czechspace.cz/en/vladimir-kopal-passed-away, 19. 7. 2023.
[3] IAF (2013): The Hall of Fame – Vladimir Kopal. International Astronautical Federation, available at: https://www.iafastro.org/biographie/vladimir-kopal.html , 19. 7. 2023.
[4] UN AVL (2004): Mr. Vladimír Kopal. Audiovisual Library of International Law, available at: https://legal.un.org/avl/faculty/Kopal.html, 19. 7. 2023.
[5] ČAS (2023): Česká astronomická společnost – odborná skupina pro tmavé nebe, available at: https://www.astro.cz/spolecnost/usporadani-spolecnosti/odborne-skupiny/odborna-skupina-pro-tmave-nebe.html, 19. 7. 2023.
[6] IISL (2023): Report of the IISL Working Group on the Light Pollution of the Night Sky from a Space Law Perspective. International Institute of Space Law, available at: https://www.iislweb.space/report-of-the-iisl-working-group-on-the-light-pollution-of-the-night-sky-from-a-space-law-perspective/, 19. 7. 2023.
[7] CAS (2017): Strategy AV 21: Space for the Mankind. Czech Academy of Sciences, available at: https://strategie.avcr.cz/en/programy/vesmir, 16. 8. 2023.
[8] Masaryk Institute and Archives of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, collection: Luboš Perek.
[9] International Institute of Air and Space Law (2019): The Hague International Space Resources Governance Working Group. Universiteit Leiden, available at: https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/law/institute-of-public-law/institute-of-air-space-law/the-hague-space-resources-governance-working-group, 19. 7. 2023.
This article was originally published on the website of the Czech Astronomical Society www.astro.cz on 14 August 2023.
