June 2019
The challenge of planetary protection
... search for extraterrestrial life It is important to understand the legal and policy background. Article IX of the Outer Space Treaty (OST) of 1967 addresses the avoidance of harmful contamination of celestial bodies (forward contamination) and the...
August 2020
Battle for the night sky - from telescopes to ad-breaks
...law to be considered when dealing with human activity in outer space is international law. The operative international framework is to be found in the Outer Space Treaty (OST) 1967, a treaty of the United Nations to which all of the major spacefaring...
April 2019
Is a military space force justified?
...operating the invaded facility is also required to be authorised by its state of nationality. From the perspective of the Outer Space Treaty, an invasion against the authorised facilities of a company is the same as an attack on the authorising state...
July 2020
Pandemic in space – are we ready?
... was hailed as a “reference standard for spacefaring nations in guiding compliance with Article IX of the Outer Space Treaty”. Under a later space law treaty, the Rescue and Return Agreement, States are obliged to share information on “conditions...
August 2018
Flouting the rules on satellite registrations
... responsible for acts of its private actors under international space law. The Outer Space Treaty (Article III) also states that general international law is applicable to outer space. Reading Article VI harmoniously with Article III, the general...
March 2016
Building Confidence and Reducing Risk in Space Resources Policy
... internationally. As the IISL states in its December 2015 ‘Position Paper on Space Resource Mining’, the new US Act is ‘a possible interpretation of the Outer Space Treaty. Whether and to what extent this interpretation is shared by other States...
