TRANSCRIPT
Maggie
First countries, now companies are trying to get into space – but can they keep what they find up there? As more people aim for the stars, we’ll show how the law is ahead of them. Could any country ever take over another planet?
Deepika Jeyakodi
In general, the International Space law works in a manner, where if if you keep somebody else out, then the other person would probably keep you out as well.
Maggie
And the new space race is on…. but what can companies actually own from space.
When America landed the first man on the Moon, why didn’t he just say it was US property?
If Russia became the first state to send someone to Mars, what would stop them owning it?
One thing – the Outer Space Treaty – signed by more than a hundred countries. It says no county can claim any part of outer space – space belongs to every nation.
But in 2020, eight countries signed the Artemis Accords. They’re an agreement between governments who are taking part in the Artemis Program – an American led effort to land on the Moon. But not everyone is happy.
China, India, and even big companies are blasting off into space. So how does the law help decide who owns what they find up there?
Commercial space lawyer Deepika Jeyakodi explained what the first major bit of space law – the Outer Space Treaty – says about what countries can own in space.
Deepika Jeyakodi
There’s one article which says that the Moon, and the celestial bodies in outer space are free for exploration and use and then there’s another article that says that no country can stake a claim in space, you cannot appropriate a portion of space. So although you can use things the structures that you build on the Moon, or a celestial body, you cannot really claim to own the territory in which you put this.
Maggie
The Outer Space Treaty says that while you can use the things you find in space, you can’t actually claim somewhere as your territory and stop other countries using it too. What does this mean if a country wants to build a moon base?
Deepika Jeyakodi
A country can set up a base on the Moon. And you can use the materials that are available on the Moon, to build this base, you could use the moon rocks you could use the moon dust and so on, so you own the resources. As soon as they are extracted from the Moon, but you don’t own the territory from which you extract these resources.
Maggie
Countries can set up bases on the Moon, but still wouldn’t own the part of the Moon they’re on. They can use things they find up there such as water or rocks. So could they keep another country out of their base?
Deepika Jeyakodi
In general, the International Space law works in a manner, where if if you keep somebody else out, then the other person would probably keep you out as well, so you would rather build a base and ensure that it is accessible to others. As long as they provide you access to their site or base as well.
Maggie
Space laws require co-operation between the countries and organisations involved. If you kept people off your base, they would do the same to you. Deepika explained why there’s a disagreement over the Artemis accords.
Deepika Jeyakodi
These principles reflect already the principles in the Outer Space Treaty and the concern of some countries and scholars is that these principles reflect a US position or a US interpretation of space laws in space law is an international law. And it is important that it takes into account the different perspectives coming in from different parts of the world.
Maggie
The US came up with these new rules with a number of other countries. Some experts worry the Artemis Accords might just reflect a US point of view rather than working with the whole world.
So, while countries can use what they find in space – it’s harder to say they own a planet or moon. But what if we’re not just talking about countries?
When the space race started last century, It was a competition between the United States and the Soviet Union.
But now, a new contest is underway — this time between two billionaires who made their fortune on the internet.
Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Tesla’s Elon Musk don’t simply want to get us back to space – they want to stay there – with talk of cities on Mars.
So how will the law cover the corporations who are exploring beyond our planet? Doctor Thomas Cheney from the Open University explains how the law covers what private companies can own.
Thomas Cheney
It’s a very grey area within the international space law system, but property law is based on the country that you are from or that you are interested in and it follows you into outer space. So, you have to get permission from your government to even go into outer space, and because you are operating in a space ship, then the laws of your country apply in that space ship and it follows you as you go into outer space.
Maggie
Current space law isn’t actually very clear as to what a company can own in space, so we sometimes use property laws from our own countries. Is this changing?
Thomas Cheney
Yes, space law is developing, and countries are actively trying to change laws, particularly around ownership, because they feel owning things like space resources is vital for the economic development of outer space. And so they’re saying, if you’re a company and you do the work to extract the resource from outer space, then they will recognise that you have property rights over that.
Maggie
Countries are developing laws over what their private companies can own in space. This helps the countries to grow by using the huge amounts of resources that are up there. How would you decide who owns something if there’s a disagreement?
Thomas Cheney
Under current rules, the best way to do that is to sue someone in a court. The only way to do that is to sue someone in a court. That is a time-consuming and expensive process, so we want to avoid that if possible, but that requires some rules and guidelines to work amicably or peacefully to resolve these conflicts without having to go to court.
Maggie
Any disputes over ownership in space would be settled in court, but it is time-consuming and expensive. As we go into new territories in space, how do we design new laws?
Thomas Cheney
That’s absolutely one of the biggest challenges. We can look at some other regimes – other systems like the law of the sea convention, because that environment is somewhat similar to outer space. The main way of dealing with it is we start with voluntary processes. We get together with the industry actors who are thinking about doing these activities and we come up with some guidelines and some basic principles for how to behave and over time this will evolve into a legal framework.
Maggie
It’s a huge challenge. But we would use similar laws – like those covering the sea – to create space laws. These will change over time.
We’ve seen that the law makes sure one country or organisation can’t claim they own a planet or a moon – but they are allowed to use what they find in space. And, as private companies start to head into orbit, the law will be with them, changing to keep space free for everyone.