There are fresh calls for a review of laws governing space to avoid it becoming a “wild west” for corporations and tech billionaires.
In a paper released this week, Yucong Wang and Bin Li from the University of Newcastle School of Law and Justice say that the current space rules date back to the Cold War.
“Space activities are mainly governed by United Nations treaties,” the authors say.
“These include the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, the 1972 Liability Convention and the 1979 Moon Agreement.
“But these agreements were created during the Cold War, when space exploration was shaped by military sensitivities and mainly conducted by nation states.”
The paper says private companies are now major players in space and roughly 11,000 active satellites orbiting the Earth are privately owned.
The paper argues that that plethora of private activity in space requires an urgent review of the laws “in order to prevent it becoming a kind of wild west where tech billionaires and the companies they own can do as they please with little to no accountability, consequence or regard for the public good”.
Government space bodies, such as NASA, were also increasingly relying on private company partnerships to deliver ventures.
While some commercial space missions had been successful, the results were mixed.
“National space agencies will continue to rely on company partners in more ambitious ventures,” the paper says.
“But what happens when things go wrong? How can private companies be held accountable if they damage the property of others, or cause environmental harm on celestial bodies?”
The authors also raise the issue of the increasing risk of collisions between satellites.
While there are some mechanisms for collision warnings, there is no global approach to assess the risk of collisions.
Space insurance was also “incredibly expensive”, so most satellites are not insured.
“The Outer Space Treaty says countries must avoid contamination of space. But it does not specifically address the problem of accumulated space debris,” the paper says.
“There is (also) no internationally agreed-upon property rights regime beyond Earth. The US is trying to achieve private ownership of space resources through its 2020 “Artemis Accords “.
“This effort is a big boost to the privatisation of space. But it contrasts with the “common heritage of mankind” concept – the cornerstone of the 1979 Moon Agreement.”
The full article can be found on the The Conversation website.
