List of contributors
Setsuko Aoki
Moriba Jah
Stephan Hobe
INTRODUCTION
by Setsuko Aoki
Private space activities shall require authorization and continuing supervision by its national government as provided in Article VI of the Outer Space Treaty. The scope of “space activities” and that of national jurisdiction exercised over such activities depend on individual national space laws. Majority of States ascertain national jurisdiction over space activities carried out from territory under their jurisdiction and elsewhere by their citizens and juridical persons of their nationality. However, some States exercise their jurisdiction only in their territories or to their national persons. Should a private person commit an internationally wrongful act in carrying out its space activity, its national State is internationally responsible irrespective of the contents of the national space law concerned.
by Moriba Jay
The Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, a.k.a. the Outer Space Treaty (OST), was signed into force in 1967. It is the principal legal instrument used by humanity regarding space activities. Given the rapid growth of the anthropogenic space object (ASO) population, namely several actively controlled clusters of satellites in low earth orbit (LEO), I find Article VI of the OST to be of particular interest. It states, inter alia, that States Parties to the Treaty shall provide authorization to and continuing supervision of the activities of non-governmental entities in outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies.
My interpretation of this is that no entitywill operate in space without authorization and having its activities conducted under continuing supervision, this last part implying that no activity will be unsupervised. Supervision means oversight and critical watching, and making sure that all activities are carried out in conformity with the provisions set forth in the OST. To wit, States Parties to the OST cannot be ignorant of the activities performed by non-governmental entities under its responsibility. I can guarantee that no government is able to provide continuing supervision, as I have interpreted it, and much less so with the growing number of satellites being added to the ASO population. Governmentsseem to do quite well in providing authorization but should be reminded and held accountable to humanity for not also providing continuing supervision. It’s only a matter of time before we experience and undesirable outcome of our commercial space activities. What will be the body of evidence required to understand its cause and proceed with consequences if need be, under the treaty of liability and damage, say.
This is a significant and glaring issue that remains unresolved and will likely be to the detriment of our use of space. I recommend that nation states require non-governmental actors to provide them with the data and information needed for them to actually be able to provide continuing supervision of their space activities. Otherwise, these non-governmental entities should not be provided with authorization.
by Stephan Hobe
Authorization is a term under the Outer Space Treaty (Art. VI sentence 2) requiring the launching state to license private space activities. The Outer Space Treaty of 1967 allowed private space activities as exception, although Russia was principally opposed to it. The compromise found in this issue was that it should be allowed under strict governmental control.
This gave rise to all national space law of about 25 countries who have established different requirements for the granting of an authorization. At least special conditions of the licensing and on the space objects are required. In the future it is important that the granting of an authorization gets standardized, at least on the level of ESA or of the European Union and, even better, at an universal level. Only such standardization – as does exist in international aviation law – is one of the guarantees for the safeguarding of the most important standard of security and safety of space activities.
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