TRANSCRIPT
Maggie
Space – above the atmosphere, are you above the law? Can you commit a crime in outer space? We’ll show you how the law is truly international when you’re in orbit.
How were the first space laws set up?
And as space travel becomes more and more accessible, can the law keep space safe?
You might be surprised to learn that there are actually laws in space.
It got started in the 1960s. America and Soviet Russia were rivals on Earth. They were also competing in space.
To keep things peaceful, they – and the United Kingdom – signed the Outer Space Treaty in 1967 – the foundation of all international space law.
It says – among other things – that space belongs to everyone… that space exploration should be for the good of everyone.
It was mostly an attempt to stop war breaking out – so it also bans nuclear weapons in space.
After that, more agreements followed -saying how to protect the environment here on Earth and in space, how to deal with damage in space, and even how to rescue astronauts.
But as more countries – and even companies – are trying to get into space – can space law change quickly enough?
So, to tell us how this Treaty was formed, here’s space lawyer Jessica Noble.
Jessica Noble
And we were beginning to see the effects that things like colonialism and exploitation had on the rest of the world, and so I believe that countries took a look at the Outer Space Treaty and what they wanted for this exploration into a new realm and wanted this to be an area for peaceful purposes, and that would be accessible to all countries, regardless of their level of sophistication. This was to be a free space for everyone.
Maggie
The Outer Space Treaty reflected the colonial past of some countries. It was meant to make space available for all. How else does it reflect the time it was written?
Jessica Noble
The Outer Space Treaty came about at a time period in history when countries were trying to avoid any escalation in nuclear activity, the countries of the world, wanted to stop short of nuclear testing or placing nuclear weapons in space, and so it was a bit of a miracle that you had these countries come together and 1967 to collectively say no, we will not continue with nuclear testing and space or placing nuclear weapons in space. They understood the gravity of the situation. came together to say as it as humanity we don’t want this for space exploration and they carved space out as a special place for all countries to explore and to use outer space.
Maggie
The Outer Space Treaty was partly designed because of conflicts when it was written. What happens if someone breaks the treaty?
Jessica Noble
If someone broke the Treaty there are provisions within it to to be able to allow a country to bring a claim against another country in the International Court of Justice.
Maggie
And in terms of individuals, has anyone broken the law in space?
Jessica Noble
To date, no one has had a criminal case against them for breaking the law in space, not to my knowledge.
Maggie
If a country breaks the law in space, the International Court of Justice would handle some cases. No one has broken the law in space so far.
So, space law was originally designed to stop nuclear war – but also to make sure space is truly for all nations. But what about the future?
Much of space law only talks about countries.
But as companies like Space X, blue Origin and Virgin Galactic start to grow – what about the future of space travel? Does the law need to change?
The asteroid belt is potentially full of valuable metals – worth trillions and trillions of dollars. What’s to stop a company doing what it wants to get that wealth?
And what about traffic? The more things that are in orbit, the more likely they will hit each other.
So how can laws designed for countries affect companies? Here’s commercial space lawyer Deepika Jayakodi.
Deepika Jeyakodi
The countries where they come from all the countries where the companies are registered, have a responsibility under International Space law to supervise and authorize the activities of their nationals, so in this way, international law is flown down through the country to individuals and private companies.
Maggie
Countries musts supervise and authorise the activities of their nationals in space – so they apply international laws to their companies. Would these laws ever just apply to companies directly?
Deepika Jeyakodi
Responsibility will always be on our country to regulate how their private companies work. Just to give you an example when you were talking about space tourism sending private people to space, the responsibility is on the countries to determine how they will authorize passenger protection damages and so on.
Maggie
A country is always responsible making private companies follow the laws of that country – even if that company is in space. Law normally develops from things that have happened before – this is hard in space. How do law makers make space laws?
Deepika Jeyakodi
So space lawyers look at the technology. What the technology is meant to do, how people benefit from it and they go on to set up the boundaries, so they don’t go into the specifics, they set up the boundaries within which we can enable this technology carry on the space activity and get some use from it. Space law is constantly evolving in in that manner.
Maggie
Lawmakers look at how technology is developing and what laws are required. There is an increasing amount of space traffic – does that need an increasing number of laws?
Deepika Jeyakodi
There is an increasing amount of discussions on the laws. In order to accommodate these new activities and space lawyers and regulators are thinking about how should the law change, how do we make sure different interests are balanced and how do we make sure that these activities can continue over a long period of time.
Maggie
The law is always changing to make sure new activities in space are done fairly – and can go on in to the future.
We have seen how space law came from a desire to ensure access to space for all. And, as more and more people go into space, international law will always be working to keep those ideals alive.